OH's Sorg surges to butterfly state title

CANTON — For 90 yards, Austin Sorg was behind. Not by a lot, but by enough that a state runner-up finish would've been quite respectable. That's when the Oak Harbor sophomore broke out the five best over-the-top, butterfly strokes of his life. No need to settle for second place. Sorg was a state champion. "I looked up, and I was like, 'Oh my God, I just won the state title,'" he said a couple minutes after the race. "I was in shock. Still am. I'm so happy." Sorg, in a new school-record time of 48.06 seconds, topped the state in the D-II 100-yard butterfly. He surged past Troy Christian's Caleb Reno and held off Perkins senior Jager Ninke, who placed third (49.51). The sophomore finished fifth later in the evening in the 500-yard freestyle, but his historic night had long since been etched in stone. "It's a refuse to lose," said Oak Harbor coach Andrea Sorg. "He hasn't always shown that throughout his swimming career. But even since last week, he's got this little extra moxie in himself and in his swims, and we saw it tonight." Austin Sorg, the son of the 21st-year Rockets head coach Andrea, has been a swimmer since he was 5. He's been coming to the state meet for a handful of years now. In a lot of ways, he'd been building to this moment for a long time. But it still was far from a given. Even with impressive time drops in recent weeks, Sorg still had just the third-best time in prelims. He's been behind Ninke twice in the last two weeks. The three middle lanes, with Sorg, Reno and Ninke, went out strong and made it clear it'd be one of them winning the state championship. Ninke surged at the 50 mark, putting himself in momentary title contention. Sorg loomed, just off the pace. Closing was never going to be a problem for Sorg, also the best 500-yard freestyle swimmer in Oak Harbor history. If the 100 fly came down to stamina, he'd have it. "All the pain I put away," Sorg said. "I saw Caleb out of the corner of my eye, and I was like, I've got to get this." And so in the final split seconds between second and first, Sorg found something in his tank that his competitors didn't have. "All props to Austin," Ninke said. "I was 48.5 as a sophomore. For him to go 48.0, he deserves it… Anytime we had a meet together, we were always rooting for each other." When Sorg peered at the scoreboard, he leaped out of the water and smacked down on it. Then he climbed out, and his mom was waiting, tears already falling down her face. "There's few moments in life where all you want is to be able to breathe," Andrea said. "That's what that was. The whole last 25, I didn't say a word. I didn't cheer. I just watched. It was so neat to step back and watch and take it all in." It's not always easy having a parent as a head coach, as a lifelong coach, for that matter. But this, as much as any, was the moment that made it all worth it. "I love her," Sorg said. "She's pushed me to be my best, constantly, every day in practice. Sometimes she yells at me, and I kind of yell back… You get to enjoy great accomplishments like this with her. It's just amazing." Their embrace lasted multiple seconds, and spectators around C.T. Branin Natatorium gave the Sorgs a big, extra round of applause. Then Sorg climbed to the top of the podium, one he's spent much of his life looking at and dreaming of. He couldn't have pictured it any better. OH senior trio concludes strong careers Seniors Skyler Turner, Paige Krupp and Alyse Sorg – Austin's older sister – all swam on two podium relays Friday night. They were joined by sophomore Camryn Brown to come in seventh in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. It marked the final state journey for Turner, Krupp and Sorg, who were part of two district championship teams in their high school careers, too. "I've coached most of them since they were 7, 8, 9," coach Sorg said. "... It's been a fun ride. I've been lucky to be a part of that." Turner finished sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke. It's her third podium spot in that race, after fifth last winter and sixth as a sophomore. Including relays, Turner was top-eight at state 11 times in her career. Rockets turn swim-off into 7th place Oak Harbor's boys 200 medley relay tied with Canfield for the eighth-fastest time in Thursday's preliminary heats, knotted to the hundredths place. That meant a swim-off after everything had been completed in the prelims, with one team advancing to the championship finals and the other going to the consolation final. Tyler Johansen, Spencer Heintz, Sorg and Nathan Warnke defeated Canfield in the swim-off, then picked up a place Friday night to finish seventh in the state in 1:39.49.