ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- The Double-R boys team has qualified into 13 state tournament slots, and the River girls will compete in a trio of Buckeye State events. Rocky River's swimmers and divers posted those qualifying performances on Wednesday-Saturday, with the boys at DII Northeast District Championships and the girls at DI Northwest District Championships.

On the boys side, Tyler Meyer qualified for the 1-meter diving competition.  In swimming, River earned slots in the 200-yard freestyle (Michael Esdon, Matthew Stankiwicz), 50 free (Drew Helms, Aidan Carter, Braden Devorace), 100 free (Stankiwicz, Carter, Helms), and 500 free (Esdon). The Pirates also landed slots in three relays: 200 medley (Nart Yilmaz, Devorace, Esdon, Carter), 400 free (Carter, Devorace, D. Helms, Stankivicz), and 200 free (Carter, Devorace, Stankivicz, Andrew Helms). In the the 400, Rocky River has the top seed time in the state (3:11.36), and that time also stands as a new record for the program. Esdon's qualifying time in the 500 -- 4:43.19 -- also established a new River mark. In the 200 free relay, the Pirates own the No. 2 seed time among state qualifiers.

As a team, the Pirate boys placed second in the district meet. Members of the Rocky River coaching staff were named district coaches of the year.

The Pirate girls qualified for state swims in the 200-yard individual medley (Taylor Devorace) and the 200 (Devorace, Blair Pichola, Cora Mathewson, Ella Russell) and 400 (Devorace, Kate Tlapa, Mathewson, Russell) free relays. Both relays took gold in Saturday's district action. Rocky River took third in the district meet.

The state championships are scheduled to be held Feb. 23-26 at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio. Last year, the Pirate boys took 11th place in the Ohio DII Boys' Championships; the girls placed 18th in the Ohio DI Girls' Championships.

by Skip Snow

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