New Richmond’s boys’ swimming team hopes to get a few individuals as well as some relays through the sectional tournament.

The New Richmond boys’ and girls’ swim teams have their sights firmly focused on Mason High School’s natatorium as the Lions attempt to take the first step towards Canton and the state tournament.

 

Coached by the brother and sister duo of Joe and Judy Middeler, the Lions completed their regular season with the Southern Ohio Swim League Meet on Feb. 4 and will be competing at Mason on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11 for the right to advance to the district tournament.

Judy Middeler, the girls’ coach, believes that there are members from both teams that have a good shot of advancing up-state.

“We’ve had a really good season,” Judy said. “The kids have all improved on their times and we have been very productive as far as the kids swimming together as a team and working hard.”

The Lady Lions were 8-3 on the year and finished fourth at the SOSL meet behind Cincinnati Country Day, Clark Montessori and Seven Hills.

“I really pay attention to how well my swimmers do on their times rather than if we win or lose,” Judy Middeler said. She has a solid group of young talent prepared for the future as well as senior Natasha Poe to offer leadership and direction.

Poe swims 100-yard backstroke and the 50-yard backstroke in the medley relay.

The Lady Lions are led by junior Kara Burns. Burns swims the 500-yard breaststroke and the 500-yard freestyle.

“Kara went to districts last year for her 500 free, but she’s had some of her best times this year,” Middeler said.

Helping Burns are Megan Woolum, Jessica Nazareth and Ashley Lewis. All three are sophomores and Middeler plans to have them do good things for the program in the future.

As for the sectional tournament this weekend, Middeler hopes for good things from all of her swimmers, but believes that Burns has the best chance to make some noise upstate.

“(Burns) is our biggest potential. Girls’ swimming is very competitive and there are many more girls swimming than boys, making the talent pool much harder to negotiate,” Middeler said. “All of our kids swim only three months out of the year. They don’t really swim in the summer so we’re really pleased to see the kind of times they are swimming without putting in 11 months a year.”

The New Richmond boys are working on a record-breaking year, going 11-0 in dual meets.

The boys’ finished second at the SOSL meet on Saturday, Feb. 4 behind Cincinnati Country Day. They won the 200 medley relay, 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle events.

The Lions top swimmers are Alex Ariapad, Greg Gillman, Theo Ostermann, Colt Reese and Tyler David.

Ariapad is a senior who has been swimming for four years at New Richmond. He swims the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley.

“Alex’s first love is cross country and track, but he’s a good solid swimmer and a good leader. He enjoys swimming and works hard at it.” Middeler said.

Gillman swims the 100-yard breaststoke and 500 freestyle. Ostermann swims butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle. He also is a good filler for the relay teams when the coaches need him.

Colt Reese swims backstroke and sprints the 50-yard freestyle. Tyler David is the Lion’s distance swimmer, swimming 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle.

Middleler was also high on Derrick Geltman, a freshman who swims the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.

As for the sectional and district tournaments, Middeler is looking at the team of Ariapad, Reese, David and Geltman to return to districts for their relay.

Also, the medley relay is an event Middeler believes can do well in the postseason. Geltman will be the key as the other three swimmers were able to make it to districts last year with a graduating senior. It’s up to Geltman to fill that role.

“We have 15 or 16 boys on our team which is a lot of depth for a boys’ team,” Middeler explained. “We’re not heavy in any one grad – freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors – so I think we also have a good core for the future.”