MANSFIELD — The bleachers at Frank Bartholow Natatorium were all but empty and the usually bustling pool deck looked like a ghost town.
It wasn’t the sectional swim meet that many of the participants remembered, but it is what postseason events during a health crisis will look like for the next few weeks.
High school swimmers all across Ohio took their first strokes toward the state meet over the weekend in largely empty venues that normally would be filled to capacity. Protocols for sectional swim meets during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed for no fans and a limited amount of coaches and team personnel.
The allowances for this week’s district meet at Bowling Green State University are even more stringent. No spectators or school administrators will be allowed at BGSU’s Cooper Pool and each school can send only one coach regardless of the number of district qualifiers. The rules were put in place by Wood County and Bowling Green State University and are endorsed by the Ohio High School Athletic Association and the Northwest District Athletic Board.
The area will be well represented at the district meet.
“It’s definitely weird and a little upsetting,” Lexington senior Lily Weeks, who qualified for this week’s district meet in two individual events and as a member of a pair of relay teams, said of the absence of fans Saturday at Malabar. “It’s my senior year and I’d like my parents to be able to come.
“It’s weird not having my mom here. She said this was her eighth sectional meet because my brother used to swim (at Mansfield Senior) and this was the first sectional meet she missed.”
Swimmers are keenly aware of the crowd, even if their faces are submerged most of the time. Swim meets, especially in the postseason, are among the noisiest events in all of high school sports.
“I don’t think people realize how much that mentally affects swimmers, to have the crowd cheering,” said Ontario’s Brie Trumpower, who won a pair of individual events and was a member of two winning relay teams Saturday. “It’s more pressure, but it’s more exciting.”
Saturday’s Malabar sectional was split into two flights in an effort to limit the number of people in the facility. Half of the teams participated in the morning flight before the venue was emptied and sanitized. The remaining teams participated in the afternoon flight.
“At times it almost seemed like it was a glorified dual meet,” Lexington coach Brock Spurling said. “The biggest thing is they took five sectionals and divided them in half so now instead of five we’re at 10 sectionals.
“You can just sit here and say, ‘I placed first at the sectional.’ This is only 10 percent of the district. You’ve got to focus on yourself and you’ve got to race the clock.”
Crestview’s Ross Kuhn was an All-Ohio first team pick during the football season. The senior is used to seeing large crowds in the stands.
“It doesn’t feel like sectionals like a normal year,” Kuhn said. “Usually it’s super-loud and everyone is super-pumped. It kind of feels like a regular quad meet in here.
“It’s a weird feeling but it’s what we’re dealing with right now.”
