LEXINGTON, Ohio — For the uninitiated, the atmosphere at the swimming and diving state tournament can be a little overwhelming.
The stands at Canton’s C.T. Branin Natatorium, site of Ohio’s annual showcase event, seem to rise up from the water’s edge and the cheers emanating from the raucous capacity crowd can be deafening.
“I love the environment,” said Lexington sophomore Wilson Cannon, the Richland Bank Athlete of the Week. “I just love how the noise surrounds you. It’s like the building is vibrating.”
Just a sophomore, Cannon already is a state meet veteran. He qualified in four events as a freshman and will return to Canton on Thursday to swim in the preliminaries of the same four events after a masterful performance at the Division II Bowling Green district meet.
Cannon took district runner-up honors in his two individual events, the 200 yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly. He was a member of Lexington’s runner-up 200 medley relay team and part of the 400 freestyle relay quartet that finished fourth.
By his own admission, Cannon was a little wide-eyed last year. That won’t be the case this week.
“I feel like I actually know what’s going to be going on now,” Cannon said before practice Monday afternoon at the Friendly House. “It’s definitely a little bit easier than last year.”
Going into Thursday’s prelims, Cannon has the 17th best seed time in the 200 free (1 minute, 46.09 seconds) and the 12th best qualifying time in the 100 fly (52.22). Those times are considerably faster than his district efforts from a year ago.
“Wilson has got a different gear when it comes to racing,” Lex coach Brock Spurling said. “When he gets up on the block, the switch flips in his head.”
Cannon is a strong candidate to advance to Friday’s Division II state finals. Of the 24 state qualifiers in each event, the top 16 finishers in the prelims make it to the finals. The competitors with the eight fastest prelim times go to the ‘A’ final, while the next eight make the ‘B’ final.
“My goal going into state is trying to maintain my times (from district),” Cannon said. “Usually at the end of the season, taper starts to fade.
“We’ll see what happens. Hopefully I’ll be able to improve.”
Both of the relays Cannon swims on also have a strong chance of advancing. Both the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay teams have the 13th fastest qualifying times.
Cannon is joined on the 200 medley relay team by Matt Malaska, Cayman Eichler and Connor Miller. Cannon, Eichler and Miller are joined by David Haring on the 400 free relay.
“I feel like we have a lot more bonding this year than last year,” Cannon said. “That has brought us a lot closer together.”
Whatever the recipe, it is working. The 400 free relay team’s district time (3:17.99) was the second fastest in school history. Cannon, Haring and Miller all are holdovers from last year’s team.
The 200 medley relay team swam a 1:40.03 last week, more than two seconds faster than last year’s district time. Cannon, Malaska and Eichler were members of last year’s 200 medley foursome.
“I knew we had some good pieces back from last year,” Spurling said. “They have put it together.”
It all could add up to a banner weekend for Cannon and the Minutemen.
“I feel like I may be able to drop some more time,” Cannon said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
