St. Paul's Hedrick qualifies for state

BOWLING GREEN — Ryan Hedrick kept the tradition going. The St. Paul High School swim program will be represented at the Division II state championships once again on Thursday, as the junior qualified for an at-large spot in the field of 20 in the 100-yard breaststroke. Hedrick swam his race in 1:00.42 at the district meet Friday night at Bowling Green State University, finishing fourth overall. He had the 19th best time overall, earning one of the 16 at-large spot across the four districts in the state. He will compete in the state preliminaries at C.T. Branin Natatorium Thursday night at McKinley High School in Canton. Finishing 10th at the district meet for St. Paul was the 200 medley relay team of Andrew Schaffer, Aaron Schaffer, Hedrick and Gavin Moffit in 1:42.92, which was almost a three-second time drop for the quartet. The 200 freestyle relay of the same four swimmers was also 10th in 1:32.81, which was a two-second drop for the group. Placing 15th was the 400 free relay team of Alex Stine, Aaron Schaffer, Bryce Wnek and Moffit in 3:39.39. Individually, Hedrick was 16th in the 50 free (22.75) and Andrew Schaffer was 23rd (23.45) in the same race. Andrew Schaffer was also 20th (59.70) in the 100 backstroke, while Moffit was 23rd in the 100 free (51.98), and Wnek was 28th in the 200 free in 2:01.85. "Overall, we had a very successful night," St. Paul coach Stacy Stoll said. "The boys swam well and had a lot of time drops, but unfortunately so did many of the other swimmers at this meet. The times just keep getting faster and faster. "Ryan gets one more week to get the minute monkey off his back and a chance at state," she added. "And on a happy and sad note, we lose Gavin from the team to graduation. But for my other swimmers, this gives us something more to work towards." For Norwalk, the 200 medley relay of Griffin Brutcher, Curtis Deidrick, Ethan Schmenk and Justin Seitz placed 24th, while Schmenk was 23rd in the 100 butterfly.