CANTON — Considering everything he has been through in the past five days, Hutch Blackstone couldn’t be any happier.
Blackstone capped his All-Ohio swimming career with a third-place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke at the 87th state swimming and diving tournament at Canton’s C.T. Branin Natatorium. The Mansfield Senior standout also finished 11th in the 50 yard freestyle during Saturday’s Division I finals.
A senior, Blackstone won district championships in both events last weekend at Cleveland State University. The following day, he began to feel ill. He went to the doctor on Tuesday and ended up spending six hours in the hospital Wednesday evening after his fever spiked at 103 degrees.
“I had a long, long, long, long week,” Blackstone said. “I had a severe throat infection, something along the lines of tonsillitis. My white blood cell count was almost double what it is supposed to be.
“I was given IV fluids to keep me hydrated and I was put on antibiotics.”
The illness cost Blackstone valuable practice time leading up to Friday’s preliminaries.
“He wasn’t in the pool Wednesday or Thursday,” Senior High assistant coach Jacob Pearl said Friday morning.
Blackstone, who came into the state tournament seeded second in the 100 breaststroke after setting the Northwest district tournament record last week at CSU, posted the third best time in Friday’s preliminaries (57.44). He was faster in the finals, touching the wall in 56.68 seconds.
Defending Division I state champ Ross Palazzo of Hudson defended his title in the event, finishing in 55.19. Jack Barone of Toledo St. Francis was second in 56.11.
“Compared to (Friday), my energy sky-rocketed,” Blackstone said. “It was a combination of swimming in the final and just getting another 24 hours of rest. I got to come home after prelims and sleep in my own bed. I just felt stronger.”
Blackstone qualified for the B final in the 50 freestyle. He had the 12th fastest times in the preliminaries (21.48) and improved one spot in the finals, touching the wall in 21.24. Grove City’s Kalvin Koethke and North Olmsted’s Ryan Sara tied for top honors in the B final, finishing in 21.21.
“I was happy with the way I swam in the 50,” Blackstone said. “I just got out-touched at the wall.”
Blackstone qualified for state in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke each of the past three years, finishing as an All-Ohioan (top 16 finish) each time. He was 14th in the 50 free and 12th in the 100 breaststroke as a sophomore in 2012 and 16th and 13th, respectively, in 2013.
“It has been my goal for the last three years to make the A final,” Blackstone said. “To stand on that podium, it’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“It has been my goal for the last three years to make the A final,” Blackstone said. “To stand on that podium, it’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”
