Westlake sophomore Jack St. Marie competes in the 500 freestyle in a recent meet at Westlake Recreation Center. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Demon swimmers maintain high level of success
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Jan. 28, 2009

Success in athletics can be measured in several different ways.

Westlake swimming has been synonymous with success, both in the pool and the classroom, over the past several seasons. It’s no different this season, as both the boys and girls teams look to repeat as Southwestern Conference champions and maintain their high level of accomplishment academically.

According to sixth-year head coach Jim Walsh, it all starts in the classroom.

“This is a really good group of kids,” he says proudly, and very matter-of-factly.

“I think if the kids come up just a hair, I think both teams can make Academic All-American,” he said. “Last year, we had around 60 kids with grade point averages between 3.4 and 3.5. Our boys were tops in Ohio and No. 20 nationally with a 3.5778, and our girls were No. 19 in Ohio and in the top 100 in the country.

“That’s out of over 287,000 kids. To know how hard these kids have to work to get that GPA, I can’t be more proud of them,” he added.

Walsh then goes on to describe the course load his swimmers carry, and how they go on to excel in the collegiate classroom. An e-mail sent to West Life praises the teaching staff at the high school.

“I would really like to commend the teaching staff at Westlake,” said Walsh in the e-mail. “As a former teacher myself, I truly appreciate their fine work. I see how well our swimmers are doing now, in college and in life, which is really what this is all about.”

With that said, Walsh did get around to admitting his swimmers were pretty good in the pool, too.

“We’re getting better as the season goes along,” said Walsh. “The kids are so focused on what they want to accomplish. But they know their priorities. It’s hard, but they know their first priority is the academics.

“They really take that to heart, and it’s impressive because the training in the pool is demanding as well. And our goals are high. Our goal is to get to state, as many of us as possible. There are times, though, when I’ve underestimated how badly they want to win the conference, too,” he admitted.

The Demons have won both titles three years in a row, with the girls taking four straight. Currently, the girls are unbeaten in dual meets, while the boys have just one loss: a narrow loss to Berea when they were less than 100 percent.

“Our team captain, Bobby Knurek, was very sick that day,” said Walsh. “He’s such a competitor, and he kept telling me how he wanted to get into the pool that day. But there was just no way, he was so sick

“Anything can happen due to health. The flu bug can ruin your season,” he said.

But so far, his Demons are putting up good times despite losing 19 seniors from last year’s squad. Walsh said it’s due to a strong group of seniors and a very talented and competitive group of underclassmen.

On the girls side, sophomore Megan Splain has put up impressive numbers. She has some of the area’s best times in the 200 individual medley (2:18.11), 100 fly (1:02.08), 500 freestyle (5:23.97) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.84).

Another sophomore, Heather Smith, has a 1:15.52 to her credit in the 100 breast to go with a 2:23.63 in the 200 IM. Then there’s freshman Lauren Choban, who already has a 2:03.08 in the 200 free and a 5:44.86 in the 500 free.

Among the seniors, Casey Hamilton has recorded a 25.86 in the 50 free. The rest of the senior class adds experience and depth in Allison Beverly, Lisa Choban, Kerry Hoke, Jessica Kellem, Julie Kendall, Emily King, Rebecca Kopack, Nicole Lamendola, Alyssa Michaud, Alaine Perconti, Allison Stephenson and Sarah Stephenson.

You’ll find some of them listed next to the final times in the relay events. Westlake is strong in all three: the 200 medley (1:57.71), the 200 free (1:44.98) and the 400 free (3:47.84). But according to Walsh, the Demon relays squads are far from their peak, both on the boys and girls squads.

“I think our relays are going to surprise some people,” he said. “We want to put our best foot forward when the time comes, so we haven’t loaded up our relays just yet.”

The boys have put up some good numbers thus far in the relay events: 1:45.39 in the medley relay, 1:37.20 in the 200 free and 3:32.68 in the 400 free. And while they don’t have the numbers the girls do (just 20 athletes to the girls’ 32), their individual output has been strong as well.

Knurek, a junior, has a 2:09.79 in the 200 IM, a 51.54 in the 100 free, a 58.35 in the 100 back and a 1:06.54 in the 100 breast. Sophomore Joe Craven has put up good numbers as well, recording a 1:54.09 in the 200 free, a 55.84 in the 100 fly and a 51.59 in the 100 free.

Fellow sophomore Jack St. Marie has a 5:19.92 in the 500 free, followed by freshman Sean Phillips with his 5:24.71. Junior Tyler McFarland is tough in the 100 fly with his 56.70.

Knurek, Craven, St. Marie and McFarland have all competed in the relay events, along with junior Andrew Medoro and senior Oleg Obolenskyy. His fellow seniors include Andrew Knowlton, Matt Kulik, Michael Milano, Conor Riley and Nick Solomon.