Springboro senior captures 2 gold medals at state swimming

CANTON — Silver was starting to lose its luster for Springboro High School senior Dani Barbiea.

So Barbiea decided to bring home not one, but two gold medals from the Ohio Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, held Saturday at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.

A runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly each of the past two seasons, Barbiea focused on the freestyle stroke this season and swept gold in the 50-yard freestyle (22.94 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (50.86).

“It seems like I’ve been waiting for this forever,” Barbiea said. “I would’ve been happy with one but two makes it better.”

Barbiea admitted feeling more relief than joy after winning the 50-yard freestyle, but gained satisfaction with her second gold in the 100-yard freestyle. In that race, she beat Pickerington Central’s Maddie Martin, who beat her in the 100-yard butterfly last year and repeated in that event as champion on Saturday.

“I was keeping an eye on her and she started coming after the final turn and it made me really nervous,” Barbiea said. “I did not want to lose to her again. So I just started kicking it and finished as fast as I could. I looked up and saw the No. 1 next to my lane and it was one of the happiest moments of my life.”

Barbiea also swam a leg on Springboro’s two runner-up relay teams — the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle — with sister Kellie, Jennifer Garzinski and Ashley Whiteley. Those finishes — plus Kellie Barbiea’s sixth place in the 100-yard backstroke and ninth place finish in the 100-yard butterfly — propelled the Panthers to a fifth-place finish as a team with 130 points. Upper Arlington won the girls’ state title with 186 points.

St. Xavier won the boys’ team title for the third straight year and 32nd time overall, edging Toledo St. Francis DeSales 312 points to 298.5.

Lebanon’s Tim Early won the consolation final in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing ninth overall with a time of 52.24 seconds. Early was the 23rd qualifier for state in the event, making it as the next-to-last qualifier.

“Improving from 23rd to ninth is pretty amazing and something I can be proud of,” Early said. “Everything felt great – the start, the turns, my kick — everything was perfect. I can’t think of a better way to end my high school career.”

Edgewood junior Cole Fryman finished 19th in the 1-meter diving competition.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4526 or shayes@coxohio.com.

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