Dunbar breaks records on way to sweep of region swimming and diving team titles

Paul Laurence Dunbar swept the boys’ and girls’ Region 8 swimming and diving championships team standings for the fourth year in a row, breaking three region meet records in the process on Saturday.

Dunbar junior Seneca Oddo topped the 50-yard freestyle in 20.72 seconds, breaking the old mark by a tenth while senior Alex Ochsenbein improved on his own record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.47.

Both were part of the Dunbar 400-yard freestyle relay team that smashed the 1-year-old record in that event with a time of 3:07.11, more than three seconds faster than Henry Clay’s mark last year. Nathan Zhu and Mark Dattilio swam the first two legs ahead of Ochsenbein and Oddo.

“This is huge … we’re a dominant program, and we’re really happy to add another one to the list,” said Ochsenbein, who last week signed with Missouri as one of three Dunbar swimmers who will continue their athletic careers in college. “It’s all about leaving a mark.”

Oddo was only 0.03 off record time in his 100-yard freestyle victory.

“Being a junior, coming into next year, I hope to break more,” Oddo said.

The swimming competition was held Friday and Saturday at Stivers Aquatic Center in Barbourville. The diving competition was held earlier in the week at the University of Louisville.

Lexington Catholic junior diver Miles Buchart III set another region meet record with his score of 510.85 in the 1-meter diving competition. That topped the previous mark set in 2017 by 28 points.

This was the fourth consecutive win for Dunbar in the boys’ team competition and its 13th consecutive win in the girls’ competition. For the boys-and-girls combined team championship that is acknowledged by the sport’s coaches’ association, Dunbar won its 16th consecutive region title, placing first ahead of Lexington Catholic.

“Today was a good day for us overall. We have some areas for improvement, but we’ve set ourselves up well for the state championship in two weeks, which is our main focus,” said Dunbar Coach Cole Pleasants, whose team will be aiming to defend its combined team title at state. Louisville private schools St. Xavier and Sacred Heart typically dominate in the KHSAA gender-specific team championships. “We’re excited to see what happens in two weeks.”

Individual and team first- and second-place finishers at the region meet automatically qualify for the KHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships to be held Feb 16-18 at the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center. In addition, there will be some qualifiers based on times as compared to other regions.

“Coming in here with no rest, no taper, just coming in here after some hard practices and training, we’re really looking forward to what’s coming up in two weeks when we’re rested,” Ochsenbein said.

Lexington Catholic senior Kat Woodall qualified in four events as the winner in the 100-yard butterfly, the runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke, and as part of the winning relay teams in the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle. She was more excited that her whole team would get to go to state as team runner-up.

“I love this sport and it’s fun to be able to go to state now,” Woodall said. “I’m really excited to go with our girls, because this is my last year. … We’re going to do really well.”

Region 8 Swimming and Diving Championships

Swimming at Stivers Aquatic Center, Barbourville, Feb. 4. Diving at the University of Louisville, Lexington, Feb. 1.

Automatic state qualifiers listed. Complete results will be available online at khsaa.org

GIRLS’ RESULTS

Team: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar, 437; 2. Lexington Catholic, 371; 3. Lafayette, 272; 4. Henry Clay, 224; 5. Tates Creek, 205; 6. Montgomery County, 154; 7. Sayre, 152; 8. George Rogers Clark, 90; 9. Lexington Christian, 88; 10. Great Crossing, 77; 11. Bryan Station, 71; 12. Scott County, 44; 13. Mason County, 24; 14. Frederick Douglass, 19; 15. Bourbon County, 14.

200-yard Medley Relay: 1. Lexington Catholic (Kat Woodall, Libby Livesay, Christina Aouad, Caroline Beiting), 1:45.98; 2. Lafayette (Riley Shaw, Lou Elayi, Megan Wedeking, Myla Phelps), 1:51.14.

200-Yard Freestyle: 1. Amelia Jones, Dunbar, 1:53.99; 2. Lou Elayi, Lafayette, 1:55.97.

200-Yard IM: 1. Christina Aouad, Lexington Catholic, 2:10.09; 2. Tierney Maynard, Tates Creek, 2:12.93.

50-Yard Freestyle: 1. Libby Livesay, Lexington Catholic, 24.00; 2. Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 24.21.

1-meter Diving: 1. Claire Nicholas, Henry Clay, 362.25; 2. Emily Scott, Lexington Catholic, 310.90.

100-Yard Butterfly: 1. Kat Woodall, Lexington Catholic, 57.77; 2. Megan Wedeking, Lafayette, 57.86.

100-Yard Freestyle: 1. Ava Jones, Lexington Catholic, 53.20; 2. Katie Bridwell, Dunbar, 53.48.

500-Yard Freestyle: 1. Amelia Jones, Dunbar, 5:04.25; 2. Christina Aouad, Lexington Catholic, 5:14.03.

200-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Lexington Catholic (Lilian Hosinski, Izzy Bender, Ava Jones, Libby Livesay), 1:40.20; 2. Dunbar (Amelia Jones, Maci McCubbin, Sophie Hildebrandt, Clare Ackerman), 1:40.21.

100-Yard Backstroke: 1. Megan Wedeking, Lafayette, 57.59; 2. Kat Woodall, Lexington Catholic, 58.21.

100-Yard Breaststroke: 1. Libby Livesay, Lexington Catholic, 1:05.73; 2. Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 1:05.93.

400-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Lexington Catholic (Ava Jones, Caroline Beiting, Christina Aouad, Kat Woodall), 3:34.12; 2. Dunbar (Amelia Jones, Sophie Hildebrandt, Macie McCubbin, Katie Bridwell), 3:37.21.

BOYS’ RESULTS

Team: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar 514; 2. Henry Clay 393; 3. Lexington Catholic 271; 4. Lafayette 246; 5. Tates Creek 175; 6. Bryan Station 125; 7. Frederick Douglass 118; 8. Montgomery County 69; 9. Mason County 52; 10. Sayre 50; 11. Scott County 48 12. Lexington Christian 36; 13. Great Crossing 32; 14. Bourbon County 19; 15. George Rogers Clark, 9.

200-Yard Medley Relay: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar (Mark Dattilio, Alex Ochsenbein, Nathan Zhu, Seneca Oddo), 1:34.09; 2. Henry Clay (Nick Johnson, Eli Greinke, Jack Liau, Cole Bray), 1:47.91.

200-Yard Freestyle: 1. Blake Sammons, Dunbar, 1:46.71; 2. Jimmy Rogers, Lafayette, 1:47.40.

200-Yard IM: 1. Alex Ochsenbein, Dunbar, 1:50.79; 2. Max Yeoh, Sayre, 1:56.85.

50-Yard Freestyle: 1. Seneca Oddo, Dunbar 20.72*; 2. Xavier Noe, Lexington Catholic, 22.05.

1-meter Diving: 1. Miles Buchart III, Lexington Catholic, 510.85*; 2. Tyler Bobadilla, Bryan Station, 408.55.

100-Yard Butterfly: 1. Nathan Zhu, Dunbar, 50.16; 2. Blake Sammons, Dunbar, 52.94.

100-Yard Freestyle: 1. Seneca Oddo, Dunbar, 45.48; 2. Xavier Noe, Lexington Catholic, 48.45.

500-Yard Freestyle: 1. Max Yeoh, Sayre, 4:45.57; 2. Sammy Nunez, Dunbar, 4:51.23.

200-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Henry Clay (Eli Greinke, Nick Johnson, Jack Liau, Cole Bray), 1:28.46; 2. Dunbar (Blake Sammons, Sammy Nunez, Will Hinz, Brock Kaczmarek), 1:30.14.

100-Yard Backstroke: 1. Nick Johnson, Henry Clay, 52.85; 2. Mark Dattilio, Dunbar, 54.20.

100-Yard Breaststroke: 1. Alex Ochsenbein, Dunbar, 55.46*; 2. Eli Greinke, Henry Clay, 57.91.

400-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Dunbar (Nathan Zhu, Mark Dattilio, Alex Ochsenbein, Seneca Oddo), 3:07.11*; 2. Lexington Catholic (Michael Barnett, Wil Jones, Graham Miniard, Xavier Noe), 3:23.50.

*Region meet record.

State meet information: khsaa.org/2023-state-swimming-and-diving-schedule/