CANTON, Ohio — Ashland’s Hudson McDaniel didn’t just break the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The junior blew it out of the water during Thursday’s Division II state tournament preliminaries at Canton’s C.T. Branin Natatorium.
The defending state champ, McDaniel secured his spot in Friday’s ‘A’ final with a qualifying time of 56.07 seconds — more than a half-second faster than the former school mark of 56.60 set by Rob Henikman in 1995 and within striking distance of the D2 state tournament record of 55.54 set by University School’s Andrew Malone in 2011.
“I felt really strong, but on that last lap I started cramping in my arm a little bit. I didn’t stretch out good enough,” said McDaniel, whose previous personal record was 56.62. “I was hoping for a 55, but my finish was bad. I glided so long.
“I’ll fix that tomorrow.”
Like last year, McDaniel and Columbus Academy’s Nate Goldfarb will go head-to-head for state gold. Goldfarb had the second fastest qualifying time Thursday (56.59).
McDaniel and Goldfarb swim for the same club team, the Ohio State Swim Club.
“We kind of push each other (in practice),” McDaniel said. “It’s fun.”
Friday will be a busy day for McDaniel. He also qualified for the ‘A’ final in the 100 freestyle with a PR 46.70 in the preliminaries. He is seeded sixth.
“I’m excited for that. I didn’t make (the ‘A’ final) last year in the 100 free,” McDaniel said. “I use the 100 free to get some nerves out for the 100 breast.”
The area will be well represented in Friday’s finals.
Lexington’s Alli McFarland qualified for the ‘B’ final in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, missing a berth in the ‘A’ final in the latter in a swim-off with Cincinnati Mariemont’s Kate Overbey. McFarland and Overbey tied for eighth in the prelims, both touching the wall in 1:06.02. Overbey won the swim-off in 1:05.48. McFarland finished in 1:05.85.
All three of Lexington’s girls relay teams will be in action Friday. The 200 medley relay team of Kelsi Brown, McFarland, Sage Moore and Liv Merkel turned in the fourth fastest time in the prelims with a school-record 1:48.71.
“We keep getting faster,” Merkel said. “We kind of just tell ourselves we can keep dropping time.”
The 200 free relay team of Merkel, Allie Stoyko, Tessa Gerhardt and Sylvia Goldsmith will swim in the ‘B’ final after tying for 11th in the prelims in 1:41.23. The 400 free relay team of Merkel, Stoyko, Moore and McFarland finished 12th in 3:41.10 to earn a spot in the ‘B’ final.
Lexington’s Wilson Cannon will swim in the ‘B’ final in the 100 butterfly. The sophomore was 14th in the prelims in 52.73.
The Lex foursome of Matt Malaska, Cayman Eichler, Cannon and Connor Miller earned a spot in the ‘B’ final in the 200 medley relay after finishing 15th in the prelims in 1:40.84. The 400 free relay team of Cannon, Miller, Eichler and David Haring finished 13th in the prelims in 3:18.64 to secure a spot in the ‘B’ final.
“It’s nice to have experience here,” Lex coach Brock Spurling said. “We’ll see how tomorrow goes.”
Ontario’s 200 freestyle relay team of David Whitaker, Kristian Kowalski, Kenton Cordrey and Kyle Cordrey earned a spot in the ‘B’ final. The crew grabbed the 16th and final qualifying spot with a 1:30.69 in the prelims.
