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Brooke’s Ossman, Donley cap high school careers with strong finishes

SWIMMING ALONG — Brooke’s Mary Ossman competes at the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission’s High School Swim Championships on Friday. (John McCabe)

MORGANTOWN — Brooke seniors Mary Ossman and Emily Donley capped off their successful high school swimming careers Friday with top-12 finishes at the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission’s High School Swim Championships.

Meanwhile, Brooke freshman Veronica Mann capped her first high school season with a sixth-place finish in the 500 freestyle. Ossman placed ninth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:54.35, while Donley placed 11th in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:09.66.

Weir High’s Mickayla Cook, also a senior, finished 12th in the 500 freestyle at 6:05.55.

On a regional level, Wheeling Park’s female swimmers captured third in the overall title race behind Parkersburg High School and Bridgeport High School. Park crowned three individual champions Friday: sophomore Abby Turner in the 50 free and the 100 free, and senior Sarah Heilman in the 100 back.

Park also placed two relays, the 200 medley and the 200 free, in second place, while sophomore breaststroker Jenna Bopp placed second and Heilman finished second in the 200 freestyle.

On the boys side, Brooke qualified two individual swimmers and one relay for the boys’ finals. The Bruins’ 200 medley relay squad of Brandyn Rouse, Ethan Robey, John Francis and Anthony Taylor finished eighth with a time of 1:53.01. Taylor finished 10th in the 100 freestyle at 53.63, while Robey finished sixth in the 500 freestyle at 5:19.45 and 12th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:08.31.

For Wheeling Park, seniors Charles Schellhase, Caleb Lucas, Alex Dague, Manaved Kuttan, Nick DeFazio and Cole Franko capped off a solid career at Wheeling Park with a strong swim Friday, falling short of meet champion Bridgeport High School and runner-up George Washington High School. The boys broke four more school records in the process – the 200 free, the 100 free, the 500 free and the 400 free relay.

While the Patriot boys did not crown a champion at the meet, Schellhase did turn in second-place finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:49.53, breaking his own school record) and the 500 freestyle (4:57.68, also topping his record set Thursday). Lucas finished second in the 100 free at 49.16, breaking his own school mark in the process.

The 400 free relay squad of Lucas, Schellhase, Dague and M. Kuttan, in their final swim for Wheeling Park, also broke the school record by posting a 3:27.49, finishing third.

“What can I say, everyone swam well, and we finished better than expected,” Durkin said. “This is a great senior group of boys. You can’t imagine what this class has done for swimming at Wheeling Park. They leave behind some very big shoes to fill.”

Lucas also finished fourth in the 200 freestyle at 1:52.43.

In the 100 breaststroke, Dague, who broke a 33-year-old school record on Thursday, turned in a 1:03.89 to finish second.

Park’s 200 freestyle relay of Lucas, Dague, DeFazio and Schellhase finished third at 1:34.22, one-tenth off the school record.

Individually for the Patriots, junior Devanand Kuttan grabbed a pair of seventh-place finishes in the 200 individual medley (2:12.41) and the 100 backstroke at 59.37.

Sophomore Max Kellas finished ninth in the 100 butterfly (59.39) and the 200 medley relay squad of D. Kuttan, Kellas, Dague and DeFazio finished sixth at 1:47.36.

Parkersburgh High finished fourth for the boys, while Parkersburg South finished fifth.

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