By Bill Bray
In 1934, Ross Hall of fame coach, Bim Stults, gathered a group of young men to try their hand at the new sport of swimming. Within two years, Stults, behind the championship swimming of Bill Sherlow, who won the 100 yd breaststroke in a state record 1:08.6 guided the team to a state title. “I have only the highest praise for the boys.” Stults said.
Fast forward 87 years. The Ross natators will dive in in hopes of winning their first meet of 2021, a triangular meet with Clay and Sandusky Tuesday evening. It was the Blue Streaks who gave the new squad from Ross a 53-22 loss back in 1935. It would be Ross’ Swim’s only loss in their first four season as the program started off on a strong foot. The Little Giant teams of that era won state titles in 1936, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1953.
Through the years Ross has had their share of terrific swimmers. In 1984, nine-year coaching veteran Art Bucci fielded a team of 44. 28 were boys, 16 were girls. With that number, Bucci would introduce the first girl’s team in Little Giant history.
Recently the most memorable names in Ross Girl’s swim are Olivia DeRodes, Alexis Prenzlin, Morgan Waggoner, Haley Fisher, Makennan Fitzgerald, Annemarie Mosses, Meghan Mosses, Megan Hawk, and diver Leslie Hasselbach who have etched their names as the very best in those 37 years.
For the boys, some of the memorable swims were turned in by school record holders Tate Williams, Andrew Evans, Dylan Weisenauer, Jared Fox, Lincoln Fahrbach, Conner Colston, Graham Moor, Scott Kosakowski, Christopher Hoffman, Jordan Beck, Alex Hoffman, Kyle Wasserman, Dexter Foos and State champion diver B.J. Blair.
All these years later, the Ross swim and dive team is ready for a rebuilding year for the most part. They are led by 27-year veteran coach Phil Moran. The top returner for the team is Madison Gallagher who has made three trips to the state meet and is hoping for her best finish ever in the 100 breaststrokes. Others that are expected to contend for a strong season are Allison Taylor, Kalli Moreno, Megan Evans, Channing Stevenson, and Virginia DaBrunz. Taylor and Gallagher are the seniors in the group.
The boys are led by Roman Contreras, Ryan Dabrunz, Sam Sweeney, and Cole Dymond. All seniors.