LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- Rocky River's Boys' and Girls' Swimming & Diving programs both earned their sixth Great Lakes Conference championships at the circuit's title meet held Saturday.

The Pirate boys won six events en route to carding 378 team points. That total bested Normandy (276) and five other teams in a seven-team field.

The River girls swam their way to eight victories. The Double-R tripled up on relay wins and won five individual titles in posting a team total of 396. The Pirates' 396 topped Bay (211) and six other foes in an eight-team field.

On the boys' side, Rocky River won two relays, the 200-yard freestyle (Michael Esdon), 50 free (Aidan Carter), 100 free (Braden Devorace), and the 500 free (Esdon). Esdon's wins in the 200 and 500 were title defenses from 2020. The Pirates took first-and second-place points in both the 100-yard (Gavin Shi second-place) and 500-yard (Matthew Stankiwicz) freestyle events. In the 400-yard free relay, the River quartet of Shi, Nart Yilmaz, Philip Carter, and Stankiwicz registered a new GLC record (1:37.33).

In the girls' competition, the Pirates earned individual golds in the 200 free (Kate Tlapa), 50 free (Gianna Miller), 100 butterfly (Ella Russell), 100 free (Miller), and 500 free (Tlapa). Miller's wins marked championship defenses from last year's meet. River took first and second in the 50 free (Blair Pichola second), 100 free (Cora Mathewson), 500 free (Carolyn Wanosik), and two relays. The relay team of Russell, Pichola, Mathewson, and Miller won twice; that foursome took first in the 200 and 400 free relays.

With six straight wins on both sides, the waterways in and around this collection of Northeast Ohio schools are undeniably one thing ...

... Pirate country.