MORGANTOWN — Call Ellie Perella a state champion.
In the girls 100-yard butterfly in the Division 1 competition Thursday evening at Mylan Park, Perella, a Morgantown High School sophomore, used a strong final 25 yards to hit the wall first and claim the state championship. Perella had been seeded fourth coming into the event following Thursday morning preliminaries.
Perella hit the wall at 1:02.29, just ahead of George Washington High School’s Presley Pendell.
Not to be outdone, Morgantown High senior Christian Hammer, the defending state champion, added a second 100 butterfly title to his awards chest after hitting the wall at 49.97 to easily outpace the field. Spring Mills High School junior Liam Kradel finished second.
The two state champions for the Mohigans highlighted a strong first day in the pool. The West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission State Swimming Championships is broken into two segments, with preliminary and finals of events through the 100 freestyle taking place Thursday and the final five events set for today.
This year’s event also marked the first year that swimming has been broken down by division. The Division 1 swimmers represent the state’s larger schools, the Division 2 swimmers, smaller schools.
A number of the heats for the Division 2 events were unfilled, though some of the times from the Division 2 schools were the fastest of the day.
Girls
Along with her win in the 100 butterfly, Perella finished second in the 200-yard freestyle, posting a 1:59.49. University High junior Monica Fisher finished third in the event at 2:04.51 while Morgantown’s Audrey Kurlichick-Green finished eighth.
In the 200 individual medley, Morgantown High’s Lily Kozel finished second to Fairmont Senior’s Claire Ciemania, posting a 2:15.02. Maya Nalcakan from Morgantown finished eighth.
In the 100 butterfly, Morgantown’s Avery Householder also finished eighth.
Boys
Along with Hammer’s swim in the 100 butterfly — he’ll also swim for the state title in the 100 backstroke — Morgantown’s Solomon Rolston finished sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:52.44) while teammate James McGinnis finished eighth. University’s Tyler Zundell came in seventh.
In the 50 freestyle, Morgantown’s Lincoln Alugbuo podiumed with a third-place finish (22.07). And in the 100 fly, Morgantown’s Owen Gregory finished sixth at 55.84. And in the 100 freestyle, Alugbuo finished fourth at 48.89.
— Story by John McCabe
