Bethel-Tate junior Gracyn McQueary qualified for the state tournament for the second year in a row. She will compete in two events this weekened.

Bethel-Tate junior Gracyn McQueary qualified for the state tournament for the second year in a row. She will compete in two events this weekened.
By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor

The best of the best are converging on C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton this week for the Ohio High School Athletic Association Swimming and Diving State Tournament and Clermont County will be represented by four individuals competing in six events.

A pair of returning state qualifiers — Bethel-Tate’s Gracyn McQueary and New Richmond’s Jordyn Torrens — will be joined by a pair of first timers — Milford’s Tyler Babinec and Glen Este’s Bethany Berger — this weekend.

Berger was the first to punch her ticket to Canton competing in the Division I district diving competition on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at Miami University.

Coming into the district as the fourth seed, Berger upped her score by 27.45 points, recording a 400.40 to finish in fifth place at the meet.

She is the 17th seed in the state and will dive in preliminaries on Friday morning, Feb. 26 with a goal of advancing to Saturday morning’s finals.

Both McQueary and Torrens will compete in their preliminary events prior to Berger, however.

The Division II prelims are slated for 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25 with those qualifying on to the finals scheduled to race on Friday evening at 5 p.m.

McQueary will be competing in both the 100 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle. The lone Bethel-Tate swimmer qualified with a fourth-place finish at the district meet in the 100 breaststroke and via a 10th-place finish in stacked district in the 50 freestyle.

McQueary’s 100 breaststroke time was the sixth-fastest in the state and her 50 freestyle time was the 19th fastest.

Torrens qualified in the 100 butterfly. She swam a 58.70 at the district meet to finish in fourth place and her time landed her the 15th seed in the state heading to into the meet.

Lastly, the lone male Clermont County representative, Babinec, will also compete in two events.

The Eagles’ freshman advanced out of the districts in the 100 breaststroke and 50 freestyle.

His race of 21.35 in the 50 free was good enough to earn him district champion honors. It was also the 11th fastest time in the state.

In the 100 breaststroke, Babinec finished in sixth place at the district, but was again the 11th fastest in the state.

Babinec, competing in Division I, will race in the prelims on the morning of Friday, Feb. 26 with events getting underway at 9 a.m. Should he advance to the finals, he would compete on Saturday, Feb. 27 beginning at 4 p.m.

More information on the state meet, qualifying times and directions to the natatorium can be found on the OHSAA’s website, ohsaa.org.