Andrew Evans and Dylan Weisenauer head to state swim meet with high goals

FREMONT – Just about everything that could have gone wrong did for Andrew Evans at last weekend’s district meet.

As he prepared for his swim in the 100 breaststroke, where he entered as the top seed, he already had on his mind the fact the Little Giant relays, of which he was a part, posted disappointing times and their place at the state meet teetered on the brink.

Then, on his way to begin warming up for the breaststroke, he stubbed his toe on the lifeguard’s chair, splitting it open just minutes before he was due in the water for competition.

“The lifeguard actually just looked down and started laughing at me,” Evans said. “I looked up at him like, ‘What am I supposed to do, my toe is split open and bleeding all over the deck?’

“I ran to First Aid, there was no lifeguard to be found. Coach had to pull some lifeguards around so they fix up my toe, but all they really did was put a Band-Aid because if they did anything more they had to do a bunch of paperwork, so ‘Here’s a Band-Aid.’”

Evans missed his warmup and dove into the pool for the race cold. He finished with a time of 56.39 seconds giving him second place, just .35 behind Ashland’s Hudson McDaniel. Despite all that went wrong and his dissatisfaction with his performance, Evans’ time still set a new school record.

As Evans get set to take part in the Division I state meet this weekend, the senior believes not having the stress of the relays, which fell short of qualifying for the meet, and his healing toe injury will put him on track for an improved performance.

“I think the relay was very detrimental. That was our golden opportunity, I thought, to make it to state with four guys,” Evans said. “It was kind of questionable if we were going to go heading into those other events so it definitely had an effect on my swim, I think.

“I wish I could have warmed up,” he added. “I didn’t get to warm up for that swim (in the 100 breaststroke). Hopefully this weekend, when I get to warm up, I’ll be able to swim a lot better than I did (at districts).”

Evans enters the event as the No. 6 seed. The preliminaries start at 9 a.m. Friday at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.

Of the 24 qualifiers, the top 16 will advance to the finals. The top eight will be guaranteed a place on the podium while the ninth through 16th swimmers will compete in the consolation finals where they will earn all-Ohio honors. The finals will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Last year, Evans entered the state meet seeded third in the event, but just missed out on the making the championship final then finished 11th.

“The goal would be, in the prelims, to not finish lower than second in your heat, if you can finish top 2 in your heat, almost always, you make finals, which puts you in the top eight,” Ross boys swim coach Phil Moran said. “…Finish third, and it’s close. Last year he finished third by a one hundredth in a heat and got out touched so he finished ninth in prelims.”

Evans is determined to make it onto the championship podium, but the margin for error is slim as he enters the meet seeded sixth.

“Personally, I think I need to shave a full second off,” Evans said. “That is quite a bit, but that’s the goal. Of course, I would have liked to beat Hudson but you can’t control that, but maybe this week, I’ll get him.

“I need to go that 55. If I go that 55 for prelims and finals that should place me, probably top 6. As long as I go that time, the place should come with it.”

 

Weisenauer going record-hunting

Joining Evans at the state meet is sophomore Dylan Weisenauer, whose district time of 51.59 in the 100 butterfly just squeaked in, tying him for 24^th.

Weisenauer’s qualifying seed is lower than last year despite swimming half a second faster. While Weisenauer just made the cut into the meet, Moran believes the butterflier is primed to move up into all-state contention.

“If he can go just a little bit faster, he should move up, and could very well make top 16, which would be a great goal,” Moran said. “To improve, make consolation finals, would be a great goal. I think that’s reasonable. A third will probably go slower, a third will stay about the same and a third will go faster. It doesn’t take much because they are that close in terms of the difference separating them. Maybe he was just a little bit off on his taper, so we’ll see how he does this weekend I have confidence he can do better and do well.”

If Weisenauer is able to go just a little bit faster from his qualifying time, he’ll be in range of Ross’ record in the butterfly, 51.27.

The record, is Weisenauer’s big goal for the weekend.

“Of course, I would love to break the school record,” Weisenauer said. “It’s always good to cut time off, but I was disappointed with my time (at districts). I do hope to cut more time off at state and hopefully break the school record and make it make to finals.”

Having experienced the state meet a year ago, Weisenauer believes he’ll be more relaxed knowing what to expect and how to prepare for the state’s biggest meet.

“I didn’t know what to look for last year, or how it was going to be,” he said. “This year I feel excited because I know what to look for and what to do the day before, what to do the day of. How to eat, how to sleep. I’m excited to see how I do this year to last year.”