LEXINGTON, Ohio — Alli McFarland doesn’t always swim the 500-yard freestyle, but when she does she wins Ohio Cardinal Conference championships.
McFarland, the Richland Bank Athlete of the Week, defended her title in the 500 free at the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet Saturday at Wooster’s Ellen Shapiro Natatorium. The versatile sophomore also broke a conference meet record in the 100 breaststroke and was part of two winning relay teams, helping Lady Lex to a runner-up finish. For her efforts, McFarland was selected the OCC Girls Swimmer of the Year.
A breaststroker by trade, McFarland doesn’t plan on making a full-time transition to the 500 free any time soon.
“The 500 free isn’t bad, but I like swimming the individual medley and breaststroke a lot more,” said McFarland, who was 13th at state in the 100 breaststroke last February. “I only do it a couple times a year.”
As good as she was in the 500 free — her winning time of 5:29.66 was five seconds ahead of runner-up Maggie Williams of Mount Vernon — McFarland was even better in the 100 breaststroke. Her winning time of 1:07.33 broke former Mansfield Senior standout Megan Brunn’s 2007 mark of 1:07.54.
“Alli’s a competitor. She swam very well,” Lex coach Brock Spurling said. “I was very happy with the way all of our girls swam.”
Lexington likely would have defended its OCC team title had it not been short-handed. Lady Lex was without standout Kelsi Brown, who was injured in an automobile accident earlier in the week.
“It is making us all work harder. We’re all trying to push ourselves further,” McFarland said. “We miss her and, yeah, we lost a couple points, but we’re all just doing the best we can.”
Lady Lex won all but three events at the OCC meet. That bodes well with the postseason rapidly approaching.
“They’ve set themselves up very well for the end of the season,” Spurling said. “Our focus is on next month.”
