This weekend, the Troy High School swimming and diving team competed at the Southwest Ohio Classic. This meet is the biggest high school meet in the country, taking place over two days with over 100 teams participating across 11 preliminary sites. Troy competed at the Trotwood prelim site against MVL rivals Tipp City, Butler, Piqua, and Sidney, among others.

Prelims were swam in the morning, with the top 16 (out of an estimated 3500) athletes in each event from all 11 sites advancing to finals that evening at Keating Natatorium in Cincinnati. Diving preliminaries took place in the afternoon, with finalists advancing to West Clermont the following morning.

Saturday Prelims:

– Mackenzie Gifford and Chloe Williams in the 100 Individual Medley took first and second at prelims with times of 1:05.16 and 1:07.8, earning them the 3rd and 15th seeds respectively. Mackenzie broke her own school record in this event. The girls team had 7 swimmers finish in the top 10 at prelims in this event.

– Cooper Dues placed 5th in the 100 Individual Medley, breaking his own school record with a time of 1:04.

– Cassidy Gifford placed first at Prelims with a time of 24.31, earning her the 3rd seed at finals that night. Lily Zimmerman took second place with a time of 26.19.

– Mackenzie Gifford took first in the 50 breast, again breaking her own school record with a time of 33.2 and qualifying for finals, seeded 2nd overall.

– Owen Wheeler qualified for finals in the 50 Breaststroke, the first Troy swimmer from the men’s team to qualify for finals since 2020. Owen earned the 10th overall seed.

– The Girls 200 Freestyle relay consisting of Mackenzie Gifford, Chloe Williams, Lily Zimmerman, and Cassidy Gifford placed first at prelims with a time of 1:43.54, beating Tipp City and earning the 12th seed at finals that night.

– Simone Scribner {diving} placed 17th in preliminaries, qualifying for finals

Saturday Swim Finals:

– Mackenzie finished 5th in the 100 IM

– Chloe finished 16th in the 100 IM

– Cassidy finished 3rd in the 50 free

– Mackenzie finished 7th in the 50 Breast

– Owen finished 16th in the 50 Breast

– The girls 200 free relay finished 13th in the 200 relay with a time of 1:43.25 (0.19 seconds off the school record).

Sunday Swim Prelims:

– The girls 200 Medley relay consisting of Cassidy Gifford, Mackenzie Gifford, Lily Zimmerman, and Chloe Williams placed 1st, beating Tipp City and earning the 9th seed at finals that evening.

– Lily Zimmerman placed 2nd in the 50 Butterfly with a time of 28.6, tying for the 8th seed at finals. The 8th seed would be contested that evening before the start of the finals meet.

– Julia Good and Mackenzie Gifford took first and second respectively in the 200 butterfly. Neither qualified for finals.

– Cassidy Gifford placed 3rd in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:10.2, earning a spot as the first alternate at finals that evening.

Sunday Swim Finals:

– The meet started with a swim off between Lily Zimmerman and a swimmer from Springfield Kenton Ridge for the 8th seed. Lily won the swim off, earning a spot in the championship heat.

– The 200 medley finished 12th

– Lily Zimmerman finished 8th

– After an athlete did not show for their 100 Breast, Cassidy Gifford was able to fill the spot as the first alternate, and finished the race in 14th place with a time of 1:09.6

The girls team finished 17th overall out of over 100 teams.

Other notable swims:

– Girls 400 Medley 1st alternate at finals on Saturdays night.

– Garrett Williams was 2nd alternate at finals on Sunday night for the Men’s 50 Backstroke.

– Cassidy Gifford earned a qualifying time for nationals on Saturday morning with her time of 24.31 in the 50 freestyle at prelims.

Sunday Dive Finals:

– Simone Scribner climbed five spots from 17th to finish 12th in the diving finals, placing her with the top divers in the District.