Photo/SETH STASKEY ST. CLAIRSVILLE'S Casadie DiBetta swims in the 200IM during last week's sectional meet in Steubenville.

With the waves calmed after a busy weekend of sectional meets, two area schools — St. Clairsville and Martins Ferry — received official word that their swimming seasons will be extended at least by five days.

The Red Devils and Purple Riders both qualified a handful of swimmers to the Division II district meet, which will be held Thursday at Cooper Pool on the campus Bowling Green State University.

Area teams found themselves playing the waiting game after last Saturday’s sectional meet at Steubenville High School. Unlike years past, nary an automatic qualifying spot was awarded from the sectional. The top 24 times — from all of the sections within the district — earned the right to swim again. It took until the wee hours of Monday morning before that information was finalized and dispatched to the coaches.

For some, the wait won’t be as long this week because unlike last week. The champion and runner-up in each event will automatically qualify to the OHSAA State Swimming Championship, which will be held next week at Canton’s Branin Natatorium. St. Clairsville finds itself in a position to take maybe its largest delegation to the state meet.

Leading the way for the Red Devils is a girls squad that will send five swimmers, but take part in every event except the 200 free relay.

The Red Devils will be in the hot heat of every event and they feature multiple entries in the 100 and 200 freestyles.

Taking that a step farther, St. C. Is the top seed in three events and the second seed in four other events.

Leading the way for the Red Devils is senior standout Maggie Marody, who is looking to become the first Belmont County female to swim in four consecutive state meets.

As the district meet approaches, Marody is as healthy as she’s been and focused. “The last couple of seasons I’ve been sick and battling illness, but now I’m strictly swimming and staying at home, so I am excited to see what’s to come being healthy,” Marody said. “This is the strongest I’ve been during my entire career.”

She enters as the top seed in the 500 freestyle with her 5:11.75. She’s second in the 200 free seed listing at 1:58.26. The gap in neither race is huge, however. She’s a little over a second back in the 200 and just 11 hundredths of a second better in the 500. However, the gap between the first two seeds and the remainder of the field is upwards of 20 seconds.

“Being able to swim at Bowling Green is really cool in the fact that it’s not a home pool for anyone, so I feel great and confident,” Marody said. “I’ve swam there before and I am excited to see what (the meet) holds. Based on the rankings, it’s looking good to be able to walk away with a district championship, which has always been one of my biggest goals.”

Another Red Devil who is certainly familiar with what this level and the next are all about is junior Casadie DiBetta. She’s in search of her third consecutive trip to the state meet in the 100 breaststroke where she’s the two-time defending state runner-up.

DiBetta is the top seed in her specialty with a 1:05-flat. The nearest competitor is listed at 1:08.68. DiBetta will actually get the individual portion of her meet started in the 200 individual medley where she’s seeded second with a 2:12.42, which is just 61 hundredths of a second behind the top seed.

“I am excited to get to (the district) and really start racing with really good girls who are incredible,” DiBetta said.

DiBetta believes she’s in a great spot to make another push toward Canton and all of the challenges that she and all swimmers have faced this season won’t matter once they hit the water later this week.

“Breaststroke is really technical, so I think once you get it (down), you don’t need a lot of endurance,” DiBetta said. “I need to get some work to be completely ready overall. This season has been great even with the conditions. We’ve worked really hard and I am excited to see where it takes us this season.”

Junior Kylie McKeegan is seeking her first individual trip to the state meet and is in a position — based on seeds — to get there. She’s the second seed in the 50 freestyle with a 25.17. She’s five hundredths behind the top seed and eight hundredths ahead of the third seed.

McKeegan is also the fourth seed in the 100 freestyle with a 56.50. Similar to the 50, the second and sixth seeds are separated by less than a second.

Junior Olivia Moyer — a returning individual at-large state qualifier from 2020 — will go after another berth in both the 100 fly and the 100 backstroke. She’s seeded fourth in the fly with a 1:00.04 and third in the back with a 1:02.21. She’s more than a second behind the second seed and the top seed is Ohio State bound and defending state champion Nyah Funderburke, who posted a 58.81, for the Columbus School for Girls.

Junior Brenna Planey rounds out the individual events. She’ll join Marody in the hot heat of the 200 freestyle as the eighth seed with her time of 2:04.91. She’ll also compete with McKeegan in the 100 free, but in a different heat. Planey is seeded 11th with a time of 57.68.

St. Clairsville’s quality relays will also be a factor. The 400 relay team of DiBetta, Marody, McKeegan and Planey won the sectional in a season-best time of 3:46.98. That is a second-better than Dover, which was second at Steubenville, and more than three seconds ahead of the third seed.

In the 200 medley relay, DiBetta, McKeegan Planey and Moyer are looking to defend their district title from a season ago. The quartet went on to finish sixth in the state meet a season ago.

The St. Clairsville boys have just four competitors on the team and all will be quite busy with a full load of events in store.

Freshman Evan Yost will take part in the 200 freestyle and the

Senior Nathan Yost is the fifth seed in the 100 fly with a 56.24.

The Brothers Yost will also compete in the 100 backstroke with Evan in the hot heat with a 59.19, which is good for eighth, while Nathan will be the fastest in the middle of three heats with a 59.25.

Junior Jack Gasber — fresh off his sectional title in the 100 breaststroke — is the third seed in that event with a 1:03.57, but he’s more than three seconds behind the top two seeds. He’ll also compete in the 200 free where he’s seeded 17th.

Earning his way into the 100 breaststroke field was junior Brendan Miller, who is seeded 23rd with a 1:12.84.

Collectively, the Red Devils foursome will swim in the 400 relay’s hot heat as the eighth seed in 3:37.63.

They’re seeded 10th in the 200 medley relay with a 1:49.43.

MARTINS FERRY

The Purple Riders extended their streak of district qualifiers — on the male and female side — to 17 consecutive seasons. That boys streak — not counting Dover and New Philadelphia which weren’t conference members the entire span — is currently the longest in the OVAC.

Coach Nick Levi’s squad will be represented by a pair of individuals — Matt Collette and Tristen Blatt.

Blatt will swim in the 500 freestyle. He is seeded 19th with a 5:41.64.

Collette, meanwhile, is in the 100 breaststroke as the 16th seed in 1:09.71.

The Riders’ 400 freestyle relay grabbed the next-to-last qualifying spot thanks to a 3:52.91 at the sectional. That team consists of Lilly Masters, Jocelynn Reihner, Ashlyn Williams and Starkey.

The Ferry girls will compete in two events.

Sophomore Gia Starkey will swim in the 500 freestyle’s first heat after qualifying 22nd overall with a 6:26.99.

The Riders 400 free relay comprised of Blatt, Collette, Kenton McCroskey and Wodarcyk.