This time, there were no last minute sicknesses or injuries.
There were no bad swims.
There was just a matter of hoisting the trophy after recording 236 points to defeat second-place North Canton Hoover by 46.
“We could have won it the last two years but fell short so winning this year finally felt awesome,” Mason coach Mark Sullivan said. “It was a huge relief especially for my seniors (Lauren Thomas and Allison Bloebaum) who have been a part of those teams before.”
Bloebaum defended her titles in the 200 and 500 freestyle as the Comets placed seven different swimmers in event finals and finished top three in all three relays.
“Last year we were projected to win but one of our top swimmers got sick the day before we left and I had to scratch her in her individual swims,” Sullivan said. “This year we just had outstanding depth. We qualified 11 swimmers to state which was the most we have ever qualified so we had a lot more swims than any other team.
“Plus, I think we were on a mission not to lose this year. Our entire year was dedicated to winning state.”
Mason placed two swimmers in the top eight in the 50 free with McKenzie Gnau finishing fifth and Harna Minezawa seventh.
After Bloebaum swept her events, Lauren Thomas was sixth in the 100 back and Minezawa was seventh in the 100 fly. Thomas was fourth in the 200 IM and Mason finished second in the 200 and 400 free relay and was third in the 200 medley relay.
“It was a total team effort,” Sullivan said. “We had two sets of twins that are freshmen who absolutely swam out of their minds and really contributed to our relays. It is unbelievable for freshmen to do that.”
Kings recorded its second straight top-10 finish, finishing eighth behind strong swims from Leah Luckett, Shannon Jelley and Brynna Wolf.
Luckett finished seventh in the 200 free while Jelley was fourth in the 500 free.
Wolf led the way with a second-place finish in the 100 back.
Kings was also sixth in the 400 free relay.
“It was a great weekend,” Kings coach Sam Mizener said. “We had seven seniors that qualified this year and will look to rebuild next year.
Noah Young scored all the points for the Kings boys, finishing eighth in the 50 free and sixth in the 100 back.
“Noah Young is the clear standout, breaking four school records in three events (100 free school record leading off with a 46.73 and the relay broke the school record itselfm the 50 free and the 100 back) ,” Mizener said.
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