Grandview's Furbee wins two titles to lead Columbus area at Division II state swimming
CANTON — The enormity of winning her first two state championships, not to mention the first for her program, might not have hit Grandview Heights swimmer Carrie Furbee right away Friday night.
Less than an hour after winning the Division II 50-yard freestyle at Branin Natatorium, the sophomore stood atop the podium again after taking first in the 100 free. A quick celebration after the first race quickly gave way to a warm down and mental shift to the next task at hand, and only then did Furbee — the top seed in both of her events entering state — let her emotions flow.
“I am really excited,” Furbee said. “I just tried to treat it like any other meet and not get too nervous. Everything went quickly (after the 50 free). I just had to warm down and get ready (for the 100 free).
“As far as being the favorite, I tried not to think about it too much.”
Furbee swam the 50 free in 23.06 seconds, 0.46 ahead of runner-up Taplin Seelbach from Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown, and won the 100 free in 51.37, 0.32 in front of Cincinnati Mariemont’s Mia Latimer. Furbee dropped 0.42 from her preliminary time Thursday in the 50 free, after which she was tied with Kami Periat of Port Clinton.
“Carrie is so goal-oriented,” Grandview coach Susan Ferguson said. “She was so aggressive on that second 50 in the 100 free. It was anyone’s game coming out. She tucked her head down and didn’t take a breath.”
Jonathan Alder senior Eli Stoll repeated as 100 backstroke champion to bring central Ohio its only other title. Stoll swam 48.82, edging future Ohio State teammate Krys Gorski from Willoughby Andrews Osborne by 0.05 of a second.
“There’s definitely a sense of relief,” said Stoll, who also was second in the 200 individual medley (1:49.75) for the second consecutive season. “I was not happy at all with (my 100 back race). The prelims, I came in and got after it and went after 48.4. Tonight, I just felt a little tired. The crowd gives you awesome energy, but it’s also nerve-wracking. I knew I wanted to get that first(-place) medal again.”
Powered by top-four performances from all of its relays, including a runner-up finish in the 400 free (3:09.55), Columbus Academy’s boys finished third (190.5) in the team standings behind repeat champion Hunting Valley University School (290.5) and Cincinnati Indian Hill (172).
William Harpster was sixth in the 100 free (46.77) and anchored Academy’s 400 free relay.
“The boys believed in the process all season,” said Academy coach Anthony Russo, adding that he switched Harpster and Gavin Lewis from the 200 medley relay to the 200 free in favor of Mirceu Butnariu and Luke Boltz. “We took a gamble with our relays and it paid off. The guys just worked well together. I knew what we had and what we could do.”
Academy was third in the 200 medley relay (1:35.85) and fourth in the 200 free (1:26.97).
Wellington got runner-up finishes from Eric Albers in the 100 breaststroke (55.05) and Cameron Petitt in the 500 free (4:29.73). Petitt and Albers went fifth (1:54.29) and sixth (1:56.19), respectively, in the 200 IM.
Other top-eight finishes on the boys side came from Bexley’s Nicholas Minkin in the 100 back (third, 51.35) and 100 free (third, 46.27) and Watterson’s Jacob Rider in the 100 back (fourth, 51.78) and 200 free (sixth, 1:43.68). The top eight finishers reach the podium.
Millie Evans overcame a tear to her swimsuit to earn runner-up in the 100 butterfly (54.58), and she swam on the second-place 200 medley relay (1:47.13) and fourth-place 400 free relay (3:34.54) to lead Bexley’s girls to fourth place (117). Hathaway Brown (308) snapped Gates Mills Hawken’s 24-year string of state titles, beating Hawken by 43 points.
“It started off a little rough,” said Evans, who also was eighth in the 200 IM (2:09.52). “Luckily I had another (suit) so I put that one on, took the adrenaline and went with it. Those things happen when you swim.”
Teammate Bethany Spangler was sixth in the 200 free (1:54.08) and seventh in the 500 free (5:07.58).
Also in the top eight were Columbus School for Girls’ 200 free relay (fourth, 1:39.05), Newark Catholic’s Isabella Pribonic in the 100 breast (sixth, 1:06.08), Granville’s 400 free relay (sixth, 3:38.29) and 200 medley relay (seventh, 1:49.69), Tree of Life’s Angela Wyand in the 100 free (seventh, 52.16) and CSG’s Olivia Morse in the 50 free (eighth, 23.95).
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Furbee's two titles lead central Ohio at Division II state swimming
