CANTON — The 11th and final state medal of Grantham Trumpower’s illustrious high school swimming career was without question his favorite.

Trumpower anchored Ontario’s 200 yard freestyle relay team to the gold medal on the final day of the Division II state meet inside C.T. Branin Natatorium. 

His jaw-dropping split of 19.64 seconds on the final leg propelled the Warriors to a Division II state tournament record of 1:24.32 and helped Ontario to a program-best runner-up finish in the final team standings.

Ontario, with just seven state-qualifying swimmers and no divers, piled up 204 points. Division II heavyweight University School, which had three divers place in the top 11 and qualified 11 swimmers, won with 216 points.

“Praise God, that’s all I can say,” Trumpower said. “I knew it was going to be a close race. 

“I knew what I had to do and I wasn’t going to let the team down.”

Cincinnati Mariemont, which upset Ontario in the 200 medley relay, had more than a body-length lead in the 200 free relay when Trumpower hit the water. He nearly erased the difference by the time he made the turn.

“They upset us in the medley relay. We wanted that gold,” Trumpower said. “We came back hungrier.

“To be a part of this team of relay guys and for that to be my last race in high school, it can’t get much better than that.”

Ontario beat Mariemont by almost a full second and shaved .15 off the Division II state tournament record of 1:24.47. Lima Shawnee set the previous mark in 2012.

“I’m so proud,” said Brooke Trumpower, Ontario’s coach and Grantham’s mother. “We got a state record and a gold medal. You can’t complain about that.”

Grantham added a total of four state medals to his collection Friday. In addition to the two relay medals, he finished second in the 50 free (20.42) and third in the 100 free (45.54).

He was joined on the 200 free relay by Owen Walter, Jack Rietschlin and Colten Montgomery. The 200 medley relay team included Trumpower, Montgomery, Walter and Carson Smith. That foursome finished in 1:33.50.

Montgomery placed fourth in the 100 backstroke in personal-record 50.62 just three events after the record-setting 200 free relay. He shaved almost an entire second off Thursday’s qualifying time (51.58).

“I really wanted to get under 51,” Montgomery said. “We just broke the record and there was so much adrenaline. We got the state record and it just carried over.”

Smith reached the ‘A’ final in the 100 breaststroke. He finished eighth in 59.29.

The 400 free relay team of Walter, Smith, Rietschlin and Jackson Swiatek put an exclamation point on the historic day with a third-place finish in the final event of the evening. They touched the wall in 3:11.55.

“We did all of this with seven boys,” Brooke Trumpower said. “It’s all heart and it’s all for the team.

“Jackson asked the guys last night, ‘What is pushing you?’ And they all said it’s just for the team. I’m just so proud of them.”