CANTON — Ashland’s Owen Lemon and Lexington’s Mason Trittschuh earned All-Ohio honors on the opening day of the Division II swimming and diving tournament Tuesday at C.T. Branin Natatorium.
Lemon placed 10th in the finals of the 1-meter diving competition while Trittschuh was 14th in the 32-diver field. The top 16 placers are recognized as All-Ohioans with the top eight earning state medals.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association expanded the state-qualifying field this year from 24 per individual event to 32. Seven of the 32 divers in action Friday were from Richland and Ashland Counties.
Lexington’s Deven Goodman finished 20th, while Lexington’s Owen Roth was 25th. Mansfield Senior’s Nash Nicholson was 29th and Ashland’s Brian VanBremen and Jackie Schmitz finished 30th and 31st, respectively.
Huron’s Max Wasiniak won his second straight Division II diving title with a score of 485.90 points. Cameron Bizjak, last year’s fourth-place finisher, was runner-up.
Lemon led the area contingent with a score of 314.80. Trittschuh had a score of 295.25 for his 11 dives.
All 32 divers performed five dives in the preliminaries with the top 20 advancing to the semifinals for three additional dives. The top 16 reached the finals and performed three more dives.
Goodman tied for 20th with Bay’s Bennett Bourn and reached the semifinals. He had an accumulated eight-dive score of 186.95.
Roth had a five-dive score of 106.75, while Nicholson finished with 102.05. VanBremen had a score of 101.05 and Schmitz had 86.30.
The Division II girls diving competition begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Lexington’s Elisa McFadden and Mansfield Senior’s Macey Wade will be in action. McFadden is seeded 16th and Wade is seeded 23rd.
