Nick Henthorn MAKING A SPLASH — Brooke’s Lindsey Kettler swims in the 100-yard butterfly on Friday during the OVAC Swimming Championships, held inside Brooke High School. The conference meet will conclude Saturday at noon.

WELLSBURG — The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference took the plunge on Friday evening inside Brooke High School for the first day of the 2025-26 OVAC Swimming Championships, with several student-athletes earning gold, and with many more medals yet to come.

The meet will conclude on Saturday inside Brooke High School, beginning at noon.

Heading into Saturday, Wheeling Central leads the girls 1A-3A race with a six-point lead over Barnesville. Linsly is running away with the girls 4A race, and is the overall leader with 73 team points. St. Clairsville is a distant second in 4A. Wheeling Park has the narrowest of margins atop 5A, with 49 team points, one point ahead of Morgantown and John Marshall, who are tied for second.

Steubenville Catholic leads the boys 1A-3A race, with Barnesville once again in the silver slot so far. Linsly is the overall team leader and holds a 12.5-point lead in 4A over second-place Beaver Local. Morgantown holds the advantage in 5A at the midway mark of the meet, with Wheeling Park in second.

There were 10 events held Friday, with winners from 1A-3A, 4A, and 5A coming out of each.

The Linsly Cadets finished Friday with the most first-place finishes across all classes, with six in 4A.

The Cadets’ 200-yard medley relay squads, both their girls team of Maria Maldonado Escalona, Adriana Lopez Alonso, Bella Lombard and Irene Marzo Grana, and their boys team of Pablo Hernandez, Sebastian Jayakumar, Kolson Ludolph and Jalen Wong both claimed gold.

Cassie Merinar finished first in the girls 200-yard freestyle, Pable Hernandez did the same in the boys event, Adriana Lopez Alonso took first place in the girls 200-yard individual medley, and Maria Maldonado Escalona sped to a first-place finish in the girls 50-yard freestyle.

Barnesville had a trio of first-place finishes in Class 1A-3A– their girls 200-yard medley relay, composed of Leia Grear, Liv McCrate, Bonita Passmore, and Kierra Phillips; their boys 200-yard medley relay team of Jack Carpenter, Antoni Schuerle, Maddox Whaley and Mason Starr; and Schuerle in the boys 200-yard individual medley as well.

The John Marshall Monarchs had two first-place finishes in 5A, with both their girls and boys 200-yard medley relay teams finishing first. The girls team of Adah Aubrey, Sarah Hess, Seanna Leyland and Ella Finley got the job done, as did the boys team of Evan Harrison, Wyatt Jefferson, Dalton Brown and Brodie Baker.

The Steubenville Catholic Crusaders likewise had two gold-medal winners from the 1A-3A class, with Javier Descalzo winning the boys 50-yard freestyle and Marcus Poulin winning the boys 100-yard butterfly.

Indian Creek, Wheeling Central, Brooke and Wheeling Park all had single first-place finishers Friday.

Creek’s Hunter Rusnak won the boys 50-yard freestyle in 4A; the Maroon Knights’ Alex Mihalovich placed first in the boys 200-yard freestyle in 1A-3A; the Patriots’ Molly George claimed first in the 5A girls 100-yard butterfly; the Bruins’ Faith Farrell was first in the 5A girls 50-yard freestyle.

Wheeling Park’s boys and John Marshall’s girls won 5A championships last year.