Relay win lifts St. Charles to first OHSAA state swimming championship since 2008

2/28/2025

Story by Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch

As his team prepared to accept the Division I boys state championship trophy, St. Charles swimming coach Kyle Goodrich couldn’t help but draw parallels to the Cardinals’ only previous title 17 years ago.

“In 2006 and 2007 we were state runners-up to (Cincinnati) St. Xavier and coming into 2008, we felt like we had a pretty good, deep squad that could contend for a state title,” Goodrich said. “We weren’t afraid to put it out there for the guys … and by the time we got to the state championships, they had a little bit of a lead and we ended up winning a close meet.”

Considering few of the Cardinals’ swimmers were born at that time, this year’s group ended up writing its own thrilling story Saturday at Branin Natatorium.

In one of the more dramatic finishes at the state meet in recent memory, St. Charles junior Austin Carpenter erased a 1.34-second deficit on the fourth and final leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay, powering the Cardinals to first place in 2:59.97 – 0.05 of a second ahead of St. Xavier, winner of 15 of the past 16 team titles and a state-record 44 overall.

That win gave St. Charles 311 points, one more than the Bombers.

Junior Alex Wu, senior Andrew Zarick and junior Brad King swam the first three legs of the relay.

“I knew we were behind; I had visualized it for months because I had a feeling it could come down to this,” Carpenter said. “Everything was perfect.”

Carpenter was coming off a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, the day’s final individual event, by 0.11 of a second behind Cleveland St. Ignatius’ Jude Banks. Carpenter swam that race, in which he was defending champion, in 53.81.

“Austin felt like he had lost the meet for us, but that point differential didn’t matter,” Goodrich said. “Either way, we had to win the relay.”

St. Charles brought central Ohio only its second team championship since Upper Arlington won three in a row from 1985-87. The Cardinals were runners-up in 2006, 2007 and 2009 and third last year.

Along with teammate Jake Lloyd, Carpenter and King also were part of an earlier pivotal moment.

Carpenter won the 100 free in 43.21, the only individual victory for central Ohio on Saturday. Lloyd, a junior, was second (44.83) and King fourth (46.28), putting the Cardinals within shouting distance of St. Xavier halfway through the meet.

“We definitely considered that one of the biggest point impacts we could make,” King said. “I knew I could place high. That really helped our team.”

St. Charles also got wins from its 200 medley (1:28.04) and 200 free (1:22.08) relays.

A runner-up finish from Lloyd in the 50 free (19.96), a third-place finish from senior Wyatt Julian in the 100 backstroke (49.16) and fourth-place finishes from Wu in the 200 individual medley (1:50.17) and Zarick in the
100 butterfly (49.3) also provided necessary points.

Wu was seventh in the 100 back (49.88).

Led by senior Caden Blamer’s finishes of third in the 50 free (20.85) and fourth in the 100 back (49.35), UA finished third as a team (192).

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