English
Español
Maya Schweikert doesn't swim in lane five that often.
The Kings High School senior entered the final Ohio High School Athletic Association state swimming meet of her high school career with the 100-yard backstroke state record already in hand, but swam her preliminary race 0.23 seconds slower than Bowling Green's Mia Buff, earning the No. 2 seed in the final.
"Yesterday, I had a very hard day with pressure mentally. It just felt like I had an expectation I had to go after and I crumbled a little bit, but just learning from it, getting back up and still doing what I knew I could do, even under those circumstances, was what I was aiming to do," Schweikert said.
With a narrow lead at the halfway point, Schweikert unleashed a furious kick off the final wall, bounding away from Buff to win her third straight backstroke title, breaking her own state tournament and pool record with a time of 52.31 seconds.
"I've been training that last wall like no other. I knew I was gonna be able to kick pretty hard. I'm proud of that swim," Schweikert said.
It was her second title defense of the day as she captured her second straight 100-yard butterfly title in 52.98 seconds, just shy of the state record set in 2024.
For her efforts, which included a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, she earned the Female Performer of the Meet award for the second year in a row.
Schweikert is undisputedly the best swimmer, and arguably the best athlete, in school history. Her five career state titles move her into a tie for third place as the most decorated individual female swimmer in state history (excluding relay titles).
"If it wasn't for my team, it wouldn't have happened. Today, I rallied behind my girls. Our first relay really got me excited and started the meet off great and I just tried to continue off that," Schweikert said.
Her coach Sam Mizener added: "Maya is a one-of-a-kind athlete, someone that I'm super proud of. Someone that I've had the honor of watching grow up, too. In terms of the maturity that she has, the way she treats her teammates, those are the things I'm the most proud of watching her do."
Schweikert is an exceptional athlete, but what has set her apart in the latter half of her career is her mental game. By her own admission, she doesn't get nervous that often because she knows her capabilities are limitless.
"I just trust my training. Even if my legs are hurting a lot, I tend to still swim fast because of all the kick-sets I've ever done where I powered through it," Schweikert said.
Before she heads off to the University of Georgia, Schweikert can bask in the history she made for the Knights.
"The words 'finishing strong' come to mind. There's a lot of people who experience success and positive attention, and that can get to your head. Watching Maya finish strong and treat the people around her with so much love and respect, that's what I'll remember most," Mizener said.
Here are the rest of the storylines from the final swimming meet of the Ohio high school season.
St. Xavier is still tops in the city
Coming off a 12-point loss to Mason in the team race at the district meet, the Bombers came into Canton with a collective chip on their shoulders.
Chase Grisi started it off with his second straight 200-yard freestyle state title. Sitting in third place halfway through, he kicked it into high gear over the final 100 yards, pulling away from Beavercreek's Alex Drachuk.
"For most of the season, we do a special drill, prioritizing the third 50 of our races, so we step into that fifth gear and I really executed it well," Grisi said.
Alex Nixon and freshman Will Farrell, whom his teammates call "Anchorman," also earned points in that race for the Bombers. St. X flooded the podium with top-three finishes as Grisi also took second place in the butterfly, Tucker Charles won the backstroke and took third place in the 100-yard freestyle, and Owen Gee and Alex Nixon went two-three in the 500-yard freestyle.
While all three relays also found a top-three spot on the podium, the 400-yard freestyle relay ended the day with a bang.
There were rumblings that Upper Arlington and St. Charles were trying to break the state record, but the Bombers had the top prelim time and the prime lane.
Upper Arlington built a two-second lead midway through the race, but it was Charles and Grisi who flipped the script, engineered a monstrous comeback to win by almost three seconds.
Doing so helped exorcise some of the demons of St. Charles coming back to beat the Bombers by 0.05 seconds in 2024, a margin that helped the Cardinals win the team title by one point.
"It definitely still haunts me, considering I swam second in that race. The biggest motivation was that was my last St. X race ever. I left it all in the pool," Grisi said.
The Bombers finished second in the team race for the second straight year, finishing with 311 points to St. Charles' 348.5. St. X held a 2.5-point advantage after the 500-yard freestyle, but a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, compared to St. Charles' win in the event, ultimately gave the Cardinals the lead for good.
"We knew it wasn't going to be handed to us, but I'm more proud of how everyone supported each other. We have a great group of guys and we'll have these relationships for the rest of our life. You can't lose when you have friends like that," Grisi said.
St. X coach Jim Brower added: "I told the kids back in the fall that if the window was open, we were gonna win. The window wasn't open, but St. Charles swam great. We matched them to the best of our ability."
Former St. Xavier coach Mark Sullivan was named the boys and girls coach of the year. The Comets girls were the team runner-up for the third straight year while the boys earned a third place finish with 214 points, their highest-ever team finish.
"Anytime I get those awards, and I know a lot of coaches feel that way, it's a team award. These kids make me look good," Sullivan said.
While Liam Clark was the lone boys champion, Austin Zhong took fourth in the individual medley, Aidan Jansen was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle and all three relays ended up on the podium. They also got valuable points from Juju Nkhumane and Christian Poh, who finished in the top 16 of the diving competition.
It was the culmination of an incredible year for the boys team, which almost beat St. Xavier in the team race at the Southwest Classic, then did beat the Bombers at the district level for the first time in 57 years.
"I have really been so proud of their leadership throughout the entire year. The seniors played a significant role with that. I couldn't be more proud of those guys that are leaving a great legacy and culture for our program to the younger kids," Sullivan said.
Milford was seventh in the boys race with 113 points, Lakota East was ninth with 63.5 and Milford was 10th with 62.
Bella Teply was Mason's lone girls champion, but fellow senior Dana Fairbanks was the 500-yard freestyle runner-up and took third place in the individual medley. Isabella Giraldo also delivered a few points with a ninth-place diving finish.
"Bella and Dana, throughout their entire careers, did just an amazing job for the Mason swimming program," Sullivan said.
St. Ursula Academy took third place in the girls team race with 161 points. Ursuline was fourth with 138.5, Kings was sixth with 92 and Sycamore was the final local team in the top 10 with 86 points.
Cincinnati takes home 9 total titles
In addition to Schweikert and St. Xavier, here's a rundown of which Cincinnati athletes topped the podium.
Teply got the day started by defending her 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.78. She was also the defending champion in the 100-yard freestyle, but was the runner-up to Berlin's Leah Nebraska in 50.03 seconds.
Clark gave Mason its second combined title of the day with a win in the 200-yard individual medley. He was in fourth place after the backstroke but swam the fastest breaststroke leg of any finalist (31.44 seconds), then swam the fastest freestyle leg to win in 1:49.04. He also took seventh place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Milford senior Brady Campbell was the defending 50-yard freestyle champion but took third place in 20.22 seconds. After the 15-minute mid-meet break, he emerged as the top seed in the 100-yard butterfly and pulled away from the field to win in 46.87 seconds.
"I don't like to think about it as me racing someone. It's more of me racing myself, my past self. That's the best time for me, and I love going out there and attacking a race like that," Campbell said.
Campbell typically listens to heavy rock music before races. On Saturday, he simply had his headphones on his head. No music, just noise cancellation.
"It's definitely more calming. I think it's pretty easy to get overwhelmed with everything that's going on and all the noises. Not hearing anything is relaxing to me," Campbell said.
Walnut Hills senior Quinn Schureck was the final individual champion, claiming the 100-yard breaststroke title in 1:01.64, just ahead of St. Ursula's Aubrey Buchanan.
"I'm so happy. All the hard work finally paid off. It's been my dream, so I'm just super excited," Schureck said.
The girls breaststroke proved to be one of the more exciting races of the day as Schureck, Buchanan and Hilliard Darby's Alexis Peltcs traded the lead through the first 75 yards. Coming off the final wall, she focused on her form while giving a little extra push to take the top spot.
When she realized she had won, she gave a celebratory splash and smile to her coaches.
"I was just like, 'Finally!' It's a fun race and I've had so much fun in high school, so I'm glad it ended in the best way possible," Schureck said.
Cincinnati's Division I podium finishers at the 2026 state championship meet
Girls 200-yard medley relay: 2. St. Ursula (Riley Kleinfelder, Aubrey Buchanan, Ali Sadri, Cecilia Grossman); 3. Kings (Barrett Hogan, Madi Von Schoyck, Maya Schweikert, Brynn Zistler); 5. Mason (Dana Fairbanks, Anna Erickson, Claire Liu, Lucy Rhoten)
Boys 200-yard medley relay: 3. St. Xavier (Tucker Charles, Will Farrell, Owen Gee, Aidan Smith); 5. Mason (Robert Wall, Ethan Tu, Liam Clark, Noah Kirk); 7. Moeller (Joseph Gertz, Noah Spivery, Gabe Trujillo, Sammy Silverman)
Girls 200-yard Freestyle: 1. Bella Teply, Mason; 3. Grier Gordon, Ursuline; 4. Hannah Schroeder, Loveland; 5. Veronika Khudiakova
Boys 200-yard freestyle: 1. Chase Grisi, St. Xavier; 5. Alex Nixon, St. Xavier; 6. Sam DeMarco, St. Xavier; 8. Emmett Fentress, Milford
Girls 200-yard individual medley: 2. Aubrey Buchanan, St. Ursula; 3. Dana Fairbanks, Mason; 8. Riley Klienfelder, St. Ursula
Boys 200-yard individual medley: 1. Liam Clark, Mason; 4. Austin Zhong, Mason; 7. Will Farrell, St. Xavier
Girls 50-yard freestyle: 6. Isabelle Schroeder, Loveland
Boys 50-yard freestyle: 3. Brady Campbell, Milford; 5. Aidan Jansen, Mason; 6. Braden Fuller, Lakota East
Girls 100-yard butterfly: 1. Maya Schweikert, Kings; 3. Quinn Schureck, Walnut Hills; 5. Ali Sadri, St. Ursula; 7. Eleanor Hardy, Sycamore
Boys 100-yard butterfly: 1. Brady Campbell, Milford; 2. Chase Grisi, St. Xavier; 3. Owen Gee, St. Xavier; 4. Braden Fuller, Lakota East; 7. Emmett Fentress, Milford
Girls 100-yard freestyle: 2. Bella Teply, Mason; 6. Isabelle Schroeder, Loveland; 7. Grier Gordon, Ursuline
Boys 100-yard freestyle: 3. Tucker Charles, St. Xavier; 6. Aidan Jansen, Mason; 7. Michael Metz, Fairfield
Girls 500-yard freestyle: 2. Dana Fairbanks, Mason; 5. Veronika Khudiakova, Mason; 6. Ali Sadri, St. Ursula; 7. Chloe Fox, Sycamore
Boys 500-yard freestyle: 2. Owen Gee, St. Xavier; 3. Alex Nixon, St. Xavier
Girls 200-yard freestyle relay: 2. Mason (Sarah Li, Anna Erickson, Veronika Khudiakova, Bella Teply); Ursuline (Grier Gordon, Sophia Molina, Alyssa Uhlman, Melia Eckman)
Boys 200-yard freestyle relay: 3. St. Xavier (Chase Grisi, Andrew Clippard, Alex Nixon, Sam DeMarco); 4. Mason (Aidan Jansen, Yassin Ghobril, Noah Kirk, Mulenga Cole); 5. Milford (Brady Campbell, Landon Crum, Jacob Nerl, Emmett Fentress); 8. Moeller (Noah Spivery, Alex Held, Austin Ranly, Sammy Silverman)
Girls 100-yard backstroke: 1. Maya Schweikert, Kings
Boys 100-yard backstroke: 1. Tucker Charles, St. Xavier; 4. Michael Metz, Fairfield
Girls 100-yard breaststroke: 1. Quinn Schureck, Walnut Hills; 2. Aubrey Buchanan, St. Ursula; 8. Norah Smyth, Ursuline
Boys 100-yard breaststroke: 7. Liam Clark, Mason
Girls 400-yard freestyle relay: 2. Mason (Veronika Khudiakova, Dana Fairbanks, Lucy Rhoten, Bella Teply); 3. Ursuline (Norah Smyth, Alyssa Uhlman, Melia Eckman, Grier Gordon); 4. St. Ursula (Ali Sadri, Tilly Shepherd, Lily Balash, Ella Thorsen); 7. Sycamore (Eleanor Hardy, Jordyn Langford, Sophia Swejkar, Chloe Fox)
Boys 400-yard freestyle relay: 1. St. Xavier (Owen Gee, Aidan Smith, Tucker Charles, Chase Grisi); 5. Mason (Aidan Jansen, Yassin Ghobril, Ethan Tu, Mulenga Cole); 6. Milford (Emmett Fentress, Landon Crum, Jacob Nerl, Brady Campbell)
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati claims 9 swimming titles at 2026 OHSAA state championships