ASHLAND — Records and awards are nice, but Rylan McDaniel has his sites set on bigger prizes.
Ashland’s breaststroke ace wants to add a state championship to the family collection. If that means supplanting father Jeff and older brother Hudson as the fastest high school breaststroker in family history, that suits the younger McDaniel just fine.
A senior, McDaniel was selected the Ohio Cardinal Conference’s Male Swimmer of the Year for a second straight year at last week’s OCC meet in Wooster. He smashed his own conference mark in the 100 yard breaststroke, finishing in 57.04 seconds. His former mark, established last year, was 58.40.
He also was a member of Ashland’s record-breaking 200 medley relay team, joining forces with fellow seniors Bailey Parsons and Seth Will and junior Lukah Will. The quartet touched the wall in 1:38.34, more than a second faster than the former mark set by Wooster in 2014.
For good measure, McDaniel won the 200 individual medley in 2:00.81 and was a member of Ashland’s third-place 400 freestyle relay team (3:27.04).
“It’s awesome. We’ve put a lot of hard work in this season,” McDaniel said of winning his second OCC Male Swimmer of the Year award. “It was a lot different last year, but coming in this season we’ve done a lot of different training.”
Rylan is a member of Ashland’s first family of swimming.
His mother, the former Jamie Minnich, was a standout at Ashland High School in the early-1990s before swimming collegiately at Tennessee. After earning All-America honors for the Volunteers in 1994, she transferred to Ashland University and won back-to-back Division II national championships in the 50 freestyle in 1997 and 1998 — adding a 100 freestyle national crown in ’98. Minnich-McDaniel’s name still peppers the AU record book.
Father Jeff was an Indiana state champ in the 100 breaststroke and an All-American at Tennessee in 1993 and 1994. Jeff swam a high school PR 55.33 in the 100 breaststroke in the finals of the 1992 Indiana state meet for Chesterton High School.
Hudson carried the family banner during the late-2010s. He won back-to-back Division II state titles in the 100 breaststroke as a sophomore and junior in 2016 and 2017 before Ashland moved back up to Division I for his senior year in 2018. He placed third in the breaststroke that year, finishing in 55.59 seconds. It was during the 2018 state meet prelims when Hudson swam a high school PR 55.45.
As of now, Rylan is the third fastest 100 yard breaststroker in the family. He doesn’t plan to be there for long.
“My brother’s record is 55.45. I don’t think that will be a problem. I think that will be easy,” Rylan said. “I want to be a 54-low by the end of the season. I’m on track to be doing that.
“I wish I could’ve been a 56 (at the OCC meet), but with only one day of rest, I’ll take it.”
While the new OCC meet record in the breaststroke wasn’t completely unexpected, the medley relay team’s mark was a bit of a surprise. Ashland beat defending Division II state champ Lexington to the wall in the event. The Minutemen, who like Ashland returned three of the four members from last year’s team, finished second at the OCC meet in 1:38.67.
Ashland had the top qualifying time in the medley relay going into last year’s state meet, while Lexington had the second fastest seed time. The Minutemen won the state title in 1:34.66, while the Arrows finished fourth in 1:36.59.
“We knew coming in that Rylan would have to break a record (to repeat as OCC Male Swimmer of the Year). I thought he would in the breaststroke,” said Ashland coach Krissy Geren, who was chosen the OCC Male Coach of the Year. “To go out there and get that medley relay record, I just wasn’t sure we’d be able to win that one. To go out there and win it and set a record, it was so exciting.”
With the postseason fast approaching — the sectional tournaments are set for the week of Feb. 7 with the state tournament Feb. 23 to 26 in Canton — McDaniel is on course to join his father and brother atop the podium. He was the Division II state runner-up in the 100 breaststroke last February, finishing in 56.80 seconds. Warren Howland’s Jared Mindek won the event in 56.77.
Rylan would like nothing more than to top his brother’s high school PR before joining him next year at Ohio State.
“There’s lots of family competing. It’s fun to brag to one another and talk to each other,” Rylan said. “It sets bigger goals for me and helps me swim faster at the end of the season.
“(Hudson) is always talking to me about it. I’ll show him at the end of the season.”
