Granville senior Stone carves out state backstroke title

CANTON – As she sat in the stands above C.T. Branin Natatorium on Friday night, contemplating the last race of her high school career, teammates pretty much let Granville senior Abby Stone keep to herself.

Before she took to the water, however, classmate (and teammate) Grant Stahl offered what proved to be an accurate assessment.

"I have no doubt she's going to win," he said. "She's a fighter."

After losing a heartbreaker in the Division II 200 individual medley, when she swam her top time only to be beaten by a state record, Stone didn't come up short this time. She led from start to finish in the 100 backstroke, winning her first individual D-II state championship before an approving crowd.

Part of two record-setting state title 200 medley relays the past two years, she also just missed in the 200 IM in 2014. For a nationally-known swimmer headed to Virginia Tech, an individual state title had proved elusive.

She won in :55.29, slower than her qualifying time of :55.10, but good enough to fend off Kiley Eble, of Gilmour Academy, who swam :55.74.

"I tried to lead at every clip, and when I saw her beside me at the end, my legs were hurting," Stone said. "But I had just enough left. The thing about the IM is it leaves your legs dead, but I felt pretty good warming up and was confident.

"Last year, it was all about winning, winning, winning. This year, I just tried to go out and have fun."

As she walked the pool deck, swimmers from various schools came up and hugged her. Most called her by name. Even though she won individually, Stone said it almost felt like a team win.

"Yes, it felt different from a relay, but all my teammates were there at the turn, cheering me on," she said. "And all the people in the stands."

Just like in 2014, Stone led Gates Mills Hawken sophomore Crile Hart for most of the 200 IM. But Hart exploded out of the turn on the final freestyle leg and won in a D-II pool and state record 2:00.74. Stone was second again, despite swimming 2:01.74, more than a second faster than the 2:02.9 she turned in at the nationals at Greensboro, North Carolina, in December.

"She's a great racer and I knew I had to take it out fast," Stone said. "She's such a great finisher. It hurt to not win, but I know her and we're pretty good friends. It's been awesome racing against all these great swimmers."

At the start of the meet, Stone helped the 200 medley relay nab All-Ohio again. After coming in seeded eighth, the Blue Aces worked their way up to sixth in the prelims and then placed fourth in the finals in a season-best 1:47.78.

Senior Maggie McGonagle swam the first leg in the backstroke, followed by Stone in the breaststroke, freshman Sarah Martin in the butterfly and senior Paige Griesse in freestyle.

"We were hoping for second, but we're really happy," McGonagle said. "That was awesome! We came up four places from where we started. It's sad for us that it's over, but we did really well."

Martin was 11th in the 200 freestyle in 1:55.58.

Also making All-Ohio, for the third time in two years, was Granville senior Timmy Spichiger. He placed eighth in the 200 freestyle in 1:43.92, and just missed another All-Ohio finish in the 500 free, winning the B heat in 4:41.23 for ninth place.

"Not a lot of people get this opportunity, so I can't complain," he said. "After the first guy (in the 200), everyone was pretty equal. I thought maybe I could get 1:42 and get second if I really stepped up. I went out fast but wasn't able to finish strong enough."

Grant Stahl had ultimate heartbreak on Thursday. In the 200 IM prelims, he missed the finals by 15-hundredths of a second and wound up placing 11th in 1:57.95. He was 13th in the 100 butterfly in :52.30.

"You have to race every race, not knowing what everyone else is doing," he said. "I still beat my times by a little bit. My legs are dead, after doing the IM, but I still finished in the top 16 in the state in two events. I can't be too upset. I proved I deserved to be here,and now I'm ready to move on to my college career (at Ashland University)."

dweidig@newarkadvocate.com

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Twitter: @noz75