“It was more like I showed up in the 50, so now I have to show up in the 100,” Chaney said of swimming in front of a raucous crowd Friday night.
RELATED: Saturday’s high school scoreboard
RELATED: Saturday’s high school roundup
Known for its high energy and hard-to-find-a-seat atmosphere at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Chaney turned in another crowd-pleasing state title swim soon after in the 100 free.
Chaney’s victory in the 50 free came in 20.40 seconds to beat out Gates Mills Hawken senior Zeb Hart’s 20.92. Chaney won the 100 free in 44.26 seconds over Alliance sophomore Will Rose, who finished in 44.42.
Both times set personal bests.
“I thought I had a better chance going into the 50,” Chaney said. “In the 100 I had a faster time at sectionals, so I knew I could compete at state with everyone. so it wasn’t extremely surprising. But it was … my instincts kind of take over.”
Chaney has been swimming since he was about 3 years old and joined club swimming around 8. It wasn’t until about four years later when he competed at a Junior Olympics meet that he realized it could take him places like Canton and beyond.
“I won and that’s when I was really like, OK, I’m pretty good at this,” Chaney said.
His competition would agree.
As a freshman last season Chaney finished third in the 50 and fourth in the 100. The state-meet experience helped last season. Coming in as the No. 1 seed in the 50 and No. 4 in the 100 was a confidence boost too.
“I think my freshman year wasn’t as big of a deal to me. Coming back this year, I felt I had more of a chance,” he said. “It probably adds more pressure because now people want to come after me and beat me. That’ll help out with pushing myself in practice and getting better.”
Chaney — who competes at nationals next month at Liberty University — thinks he’ll be ready for that challenge next year. Having two seasons of experience at state helps. Being able to celebrate after is incentive too.
“We went and got milkshakes,” Chaney said of his victory dinner. “Yeah, actually I haven’t had one in a while now that I think about it. Yeah, it was good.
“Waking up knowing I won state is pretty cool.”
Here is a full list of state qualifiers from the Journal-News coverage area and their results in Canton:
DIVISION I
BOYS
200 medley relay: Lakota West (Michael Lorenz, Griffin Manning, Connor Davis, Justin Hailey), 11th, 1:35.30
200 freestyle: Jacob McDonald (Lakota East), 7th, 1:39.89
200 IM: Griffin Manning (Lakota West), 17th, 1:55.18
500 freestyle: Jacob McDonald (Lakota East), 6th, 4:34.38
200 freestyle relay: Lakota East (Keith Enrico, Alexander Devine, Alec Gayer, Jacob McDonald), 19th, 1:28.01; Lakota West (Justin Hailey, Zachary Saurine, Griffin Manning, Kaleb Sackenheim), 21st, 1:28.37
100 backstroke: Michael Lorenz (Lakota West), 14th, 51.71
100 breaststroke: Griffin Manning (Lakota West), 6th, 56.44
GIRLS
200 freestyle: Grace Luebbe (Lakota West), 17th, 1:55.19
200 IM: Hannah Cech (Lakota East), 21st, 2:09.18
100 butterfly: Bridget Cramer (Lakota West), 24th, 58.57
500 freestyle: Hannah Cech (Lakota East), 11th, 4:59.93; McKenzie Rice (Lakota West), 15th, 5:10.44; Grace Luebbe (Lakota West), 19th, 5:08.91
200 freestyle relay: Lakota West (McKenzie Rice, Grace Luebbe, Bridget Cramer, Molly Fisher), 22nd, 1:39.72
DIVISION II
BOYS
200 medley relay: Badin (Luke Paxton, Adam Sherman, Lance Wetta, Will Michael), 11th, 1:37.33; Fenwick (Adam Chaney, Joe Colley, Tyler Schehr, Drew Thiery), 19th, 1:41.57
200 freestyle: Luke Paxton (Badin), 8th, 1:46.21
50 freestyle: Adam Chaney (Fenwick), 1st, 20.40
100 butterfly: Luke Paxton (Badin), 5th, 50.64
100 freestyle: Adam Chaney (Fenwick), 1st, 44.26
200 freestyle relay: Fenwick (Drew Thiery, Tyler Schehr, Carter Kolpek, Adam Chaney), 12th, 1:31.17
100 breaststroke: Adam Sherman (Badin), 5th, 59.09
400 freestyle relay: Badin (Ben Hongell, Lance Wetta, Ben Brossart, Luke Paxton), 8th, 3:17.23
GIRLS
200 medley relay: Fenwick (Claire Puthoff, Sarah Kaleta, Anna Baker, Emily Olson), 21st, 1:53.48
100 butterfly: Anna Baker (Fenwick), 18th, 58.49
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