2 seniors lead the Versailles girls swim team

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VERSAILLES – The 24 girls on the Versailles High School girls swim team are looking to continue the success that they had last year.

Heather Albers competed in the Ohio High School Athletic Association state swim meet last year, and Emily Kramer was a relay alternate. Both are motivated to return to the state competition.

The two seniors on the girls team this year are Heather Albers and Emily Kramer. Last year, Albers qualified for districts in the 50 free, 100 breaststroke, 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. She swam the breaststroke on the 200 yard medley relay, which placed 15th at the state meet. She will swim the freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly events this year. Kramer qualified for districts as part of the 400 freestyle relay and was an alternate for the relays at the state meet. This year, she will either concentrate on backstroke and the distance events. Albers and Kramer received the all-Lima area honorable mention award last year.

Juniors include Payton Berger, Kari Mangen and Faith Wilker. Berger dropped a lot of time in her all of her events last year. She once again is looking strong in the breaststroke and freestyle events. Last year, she received the all-Lima area honorable mention award. Mangen has improved tremendously from last season. She will focus on the freestyle and backstroke events this year. Wilker will swim freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and the individual medley this year. Last year, she qualified for districts in the 400 free relay. In addition Wilker received the all-Lima area honorable mention award last year.

Returning sophomores include Tori Ahrens, Courtney Batten, Taylor Cordonnier, Chloe Francis, Grace Francis, Morgan Frederick and Claire Keiser. One new sophomore, Katelyn Rush, also joined the team this year. Ahrens will swim a variety of events this year including the freestyle events, 200 individual medley and breaststroke this year. Batten will concentrate on the distance events along with backstroke. Cordonnier will concentrate on breaststroke, backstroke and the freestyle events. Chloe Francis will concentrate on the freestyle events along with backstroke. Grace Francis is an all-around swimmer so she will swim the freestyle events, butterfly and 200 individual medley. Frederick will swim the freestyle events including the 200 free and backstroke. Keiser also will swim the freestyle events along with backstroke. Rush is new to high school swimming so the Tigers will experiment with her throughout the season.

Eleven freshman girls decided to join the swim team this year, and most of them have some prior swimming experience. The freshmen include Hannah Bey, Grace Carman, Lacee Cotterman, Deanna Day, Kasidy Dross, Adel Karolyi, Kaia Kruckeberg, Lucy Prakel, Jaden Prenger, Shelby Smith and Olivia Waymire. The Tigers will experiment with the freshmen throughout the season. They also will look for some of the new swimmers to swim some distance freestyle events this year.

Last year, the Versailles girls swim team won all dual and tri meets, the Celina Sprint Meet, Lima Holiday Invitational and the Coldwater Cavalier meet, which is the unofficial Midwest Athletic Conference meet. The girls were sectional champs, placed fifth in the district meet, and they placed 17th in the OHSAA state swim meet.

The girls are coached by Penny Cromwell and Mark Travis. For the swimming schedule and updates throughout the season, visit the high school team’s website at http://www.versailles.k12.oh.us. Click on athletics, click on schedules and click on the swim tab.

The Versailles girls swim team has 24 girls this year and is led by a pair of accomplished seniors.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Versailles-girls-swimming-WEB-4.jpgThe Versailles girls swim team has 24 girls this year and is led by a pair of accomplished seniors. Kyle Shaner|The Daily Advocate

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