CINCINNATI, Oh - Before the calendar flipped to 2023, the Aqua Cats took a trip to St. Xavier High School for the Jesuit Cup as they would compete against the Bombers and University of Detroit Jesuit (MI). On Thursday, December 29, the Cats took to the water fresh off a second-place finish in the annual Viking Meet at Cleveland State University. Before heading to Keating Natatorium, all three Jesuit schools gathered for an afternoon mass.
The first varsity event would be the 200-Yard Medley Relay. This team featured Joshua Toothman, Jude Banks, Julian Wolke and Tyler Williams. For Toothman he is coming off a summer where he qualified for the Junior National Meet and is one of the top swimmers in the state for the Wildcats. The Cats would take second with a time of 1:38.65, with St. Xavier placing first with a time of 1:36.47.
In the 200-Yard Freestyle, junior Tyler Williams would place fifth for the Wildcats with a time of 1:49.95, the best finish for the Wildcats in the heat.
For the 200-Yard IM, the Wildcats' best finisher in the heat was junior Maxwell Santoro, with a time of 2:04.18 for a fourth-place finish and 11 points for Saint Ignatius.
Toothman took first place in the 50-Yard Freestyle. The junior earned the Cats 16 points with his blazing time of 21.22.
Santoro was back for the 100-Yard Butterfly, where he again took fourth place with a time of 56.27 and earned another 11 points for the Wildcats.
Fresh off of his first-place finish in the 50-Yard Freestyle, Toothman competed in the 100-Yard Freestyle. He would finish in a close second with a time of 47.74, just behind first-place finisher Thackston McMullan of St. Xavier with a time of 46.94. Williams came in third behind Toothman with a time of 48.46.
The 200-Yard Freestyle Relay team of Toothman, Santoro, Williams and Luke Murtha took second place behind St. Xavier with a time of 1:28.63.
Murtha would compete next in the 100-Yard Backstroke, where he would place fourth with a time of 57.42. In the next 100-Yard Breaststroke, Jude Banks took second for the Cats with a one-minute time on the dot.
In the night's final event, the Wildcats competed in the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. The best team of the heat for Saint Ignatius consisted of Santoro, Wolke, Isaac Chernisky and Humbert Witz. The relay team would finish sixth with a time of 3:28.41.
After the meet came to a close, the Aqua Cats would take second with a total score of 349. The host, St. Xavier, took first place with a total score of 617. University of Detroit Jesuit (MI) took third place with a score of 298. At the end of the event, the Jesuit swimmers came together to sing the Alma Mater.
The Wildcats turn the calendar to 2023 as their first dual meet will be against University School on Tuesday, January 3, at 5 p.m. at Cleveland State University.