On Feb. 1, 2025, Ross High School’s Swim and Dive Team claimed first in the Men’s division and second in the Women’s division for the Southwest Buckeye League Championship, with sophomore diver Nora Haenning taking second place in the dive championship. RHS swimmers arrived at the Miami University Recreational Center on Saturday Feb. 1. They warmed up, shook out their nervous jitters, and swam to culminate their hard work from the 2024-25 winter season.
Prior to the event, the team came off a week of tapered practice and had been requested by Head Coach Joe Stewart to hydrate and sleep more than usual to prepare. In a team huddle before the meet began, Assistant Coach Maggie Jones encouraged swimmers before the meet to, “leave it all in the pool,” adding, “If you can’t breathe after the race, you did it right.”
The swimmers achieved many incredible accomplishments including numerous personal records, repeated top three placements in their events, and even the breaking of school and league records.
RHS Senior Cooper Burt was named 2025 SWBL Swimmer of the Year as a result of his 278 points, the most points of all boys in the league. The SWBL website stated, “Ross was powered by senior Cooper Burt who earned SWBL Swimmer of the Year honors after winning individual league titles in the 100 back and 100 fly.”
RHS Senior Connor Bennett yet again broke his own, the school’s, and the SWBL record for Men’s 100 yard Breaststroke at 56.09 seconds.
The Women’s 400 yard Freestyle Relay composed of sophomore Isabelle Davis and freshmen Lauren Brudzinski, Lou Schuler, and Grayson Ozias. They broke the former school record by nearly 3 seconds, taking second place with a time of 3:59.56.
After watching the girls’ record-breaking relay, RHS math teacher and swim parent Tina Ozias shared that she, “was anxiously watching the clock and then when they touched the wall and it said 3:59 [she] was super excited for the girls that … they broke the record.”
Long-time swimmer and sophomore Isabelle Davis stated, “I was definitely a little nervous, but [compared to] last year, I definitely had some confidence. I came in knowing that it was definitely gonna be a fight and … with a positive attitude, and that’s all that matters.” First-year swimmer and RHS Freshman Addison Hill agreed by stating, “I felt nervous going into it, but after I swam, I felt a lot better.”
The recurring emotion felt by coaches and swimmers alike after the meet was pride. Assistant Coach Kaity Lister shared, “Leaving today, I’m very proud of what we showed we could do. And in general, I’m extremely joyful, happy.” Jones also felt that the team was very accomplished, expressing her emotion as “immensely proud.”
Stewart stated, “The SWBL is an incredibly difficult swim conference and the task of competing against all the member teams from both conferences is a mighty challenge in one meet. For us to finish so well is credit to the hard work our kids put in day in and day out.”
RHS is fired up over its Ross Swim and Dive athletes who swam hard and came out victorious on Saturday. Way to go Rams.
