(Photo above: Olivia DeRodes, AnneMarie Moses, MaKennah Fitzgerald and Alexis Prenzlin stand in seventh place on the medal podium for the 200 medley relay at the Division I state swim meet.)
CANTON – All season, and for pretty much all of their careers, the Lady Giants’ Big 4 swimmers often dominated their meets and were the engine that drove Ross’ girls swim program to high levels of success.
Alexis Prenzlin stands in fifth place on the medal podium at the Division I state meet.
So, it was only fitting, with three-fourths of the group swimming the final races of their Ross careers Saturday at the Division I state swim meet, they should go out on a record-setting high-note.
Seniors Olivia DeRodes, MaKennah Fitzgerald and AnneMarie Moses, as well as junior Alexis Prenzlin, closed the 2018-19 season out in fine style. The foursome finished seventh in the state in the 200-yard medley relay, doing so by breaking their own school-record with a time of 1:44.65.
The event marked the final swim for Fitzgerald, who will continue her swim career at Cleveland State, and Moses, who is heading to Ohio State University to pole vault.
“It’s awesome,” Moses said. “I feel like we went out on a really good note. That’s the best way to end your season and your career, getting a school record and standing on that podium with my best friends I’ve made from the sport. I think it’s the best way to end it, honestly.”
Alexis Prenzlin receives her medal for finishing fifth in breaststroke at the Division I state swim meet.
Fitzgerald opened the relay in the backstroke, finishing with a personal-best split time of 26.87 seconds. Fitzgerald said she took coach Phil Moran’s advice and kept her head back during her race.
“He said the difference between a 27-high and a 26-high is putting your head back and I did that,” Fitzgerald said.
Having raced for the final time as a Lady Giant, Fitzgerald called the end of her high school career “surreal.”
“It’s meant so much to me, honestly, I really can’t describe it,” Fitzgerald said. “Without Ross’ swim program, the coaches, (athletic director) Chad Berndt, Tina (Moses), Phil, Pryde (Yost), everyone involved in swim, I don’t think I would have made it this far. It’s an incredible program to surround yourself with. The people are amazing.”
Olivia DeRodes gets set to swim her final high school race in the consolation final in the 500 freestyle at the Division I state meet.
After the relay team’s visit to the podium, DeRodes and Prenzlin’s days weren’t done.
DeRodes’ final swim of her career came in the consolation finals of the 500 freestyle. Though she entered the event seeded 16th, her time of 5:06.66 was nearly two seconds faster than her preliminary time and moved her up two places to 14th.
“It’s very bittersweet,” DeRodes said. “I’m so sad I’m done with high school swimming. It’s been so much of my life the last four years. It’s made me a better person, definitely. High school swimming is so different from club. High school is more about the team and club is a lot more individual and that’s what I like so much more about high school.”
Like Fitzgerald, DeRodes’ swim career isn’t over. The final race of her high school career took place just down the road from the University of Akron, where she’ll swim collegiately.
MaKennah Fitzgerald swims the backstroke portion of the 200 medley relay in which the Lady Giants finished seventh.
“I’m excited to go to Akron and experience a new level of this, but I am sad to leave Ross,” she said.
As for Prenzlin, who had to wait about three hours between the meet-opening medley relay and the second-to-last event, the breaststroke, she entered the final heat seeded fifth and made good on that seeding. She finished fifth in the event with a time of 1:02.65, breaking her own school-record of 1:03.11.
“It was really fun,” Prenzlin said of her swim. “Yesterday and today, especially, I like to try to keep up with the people inside of me and try to get ahead of them and both times I did and that was really pleasing and exciting for me.”
Unlike her teammates, Prenzlin’s career is not yet complete, being the only junior of the four. But the thought of being without her teammates next year, was an emotional one for Prenzlin.
AnneMarie Moses swims the butterfly portion of the 200 medley relay in which the Lady Giants finished seventh.
“It was awesome because it was our last swim together as a relay,” she said. “It was great to succeed so well in that event the past three years and make it this far with them is so amazing to me.
“They taught me so much for the past three years. I wouldn’t want to swim that relay with any other group. I’ve been swimming with them since elementary school. To come all this way the past three years and succeed so well, it means the world to me.”
Though the prospect of being without DeRodes, Fitzgerald and Moses next year is sad for Prenzlin, it’s downright daunting for coach Phil Moran.
“Those three girls scored like 1,500 points for us in meets this year,” Moran said. “That’s a lot of points and it makes it easy, as a coach, to move kids around and win meets.
Left to right, AnneMarie Moses, Olivia DeRodes, Alexis Prenzlin, MaKennah Fitzgerald
“We can’t replace them,” he added. “They’re just not replaceable. We’re going to have to work our butts off to get back here and help Lexi who will have the experience coming back. We got the girls who can do it, they have to buy in and work hard like any other group that’s come through.”
Division I State Championship Meet
Finals
100 breaststroke: 5th, Alexis Prenzlin, 1:02.65 – new school record
200 medley relay: 7th, MaKennah Fitzgerald, Alexis Prenzlin, AnneMarie Moses, Olivia DeRodes, 1:44.65 – new school record
500 freestyle: 14th, Olivia DeRodes, 5:06.66
Day 1 results
200 freestyle: 18th, Olivia DeRodes, 1:54.60
200 IM: 19th, Alexis Prenzlin, 2:10.09
100 backstroke: 23th, MaKennah Fitzgerald, 58.03
400 freestyle relay: 23rd, MaKennah Fitzgerald, Alexis Prenzlin, AnneMarie Moses, Olivia DeRodes, 3:37.51
Boys
100 butterfly: 20th, Dylan Weisenauer, 51.64;