Morgan representing Clyde at state swim

The Clyde swimming program and the last name Morgan go hand in hand. Aaron Morgan contacted Fliers athletic director Ryan Greenslade six years ago when his oldest son, Grayson, wanted to swim at the high school level. Grayson and younger brother Eli started swimming when they were young and it's been history-making since. Now, Eli is a junior and ready for his third trip to the state tournament in as many years. Eli will race in the 200-yard freestyle and take the No. 4 seed time into the 500 free at Canton McKinley High School's C.T. Branin Natatorium. "I'd say his biggest strength has been his ability to stay focused all year," said Aaron, the head coach at Clyde. "Because we don't have our own facilities, he's had to drive to Fremont every night and practice from 5-7 p.m. That sometimes makes for a late night when you still have to eat dinner and do homework. "I'm sure there are days he'd like to just come home after school, but instead he just keeps putting in the work and it's definitely paid off." The prelims for Division II start at 5 p.m. Thursday. Should he advance to the finals, those begin at 5 p.m. Friday. Eli's season has finished up at the state tournament each year of high school. "So far the season has gone pretty well," Eli said. "I've been able to be pretty consistent with my times. I was also able to drop a significant amount of time at districts." Morgan finished second in the 500 free at the district at Bowling Green State University last Friday. He touched the wall in a time of 4:41.75. Ottawa Hills' Thomas Lathrop took the victory in 4:36.49 and has the top-seeded time for the race. Morgan's time is fourth-best. "Making it back for a third time is incredible," Aaron said. "He's been swimming since he was six and his times were where they needed to be. I knew he had a chance, but qualifying his freshman year in two events was something I didn't see coming. However, Eli had his goals and he put in the hard work and achieved them." Morgan took fourth in the 200 free in a time of 1:45.00 at the district meet. That is the 15th-best time ahead of the state prelims. The top time belongs to Oak Harbor's Austin Sorg at 1:40.23. "My biggest strengths this year have been being able to really finish my races and not die out at the end," Eli said. "Getting back to state for me means continuing my success to a bigger meet against faster swimmers." Morgan has raced in other events this season, swimming the 50 free, 100 free, 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly at times. Eli is just one of two swimmers for Clyde. Without having enough for relays and no pool of their own to practice in, it's hard to build the program. Eli has swum with Jayse Moreno this season. It's hard to push each other based on the races they swim. "Eli specializes in the longer freestyle events while Jayse does more sprints," Aaron said. "So their practices are set up different." Morgan took home wins in the 200 free (1:49.75) and 500 free (4:56.92) at the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division competition Jan. 10. For his efforts, he was named boys' Most Outstanding Swimmer of the event. He had wins in the 200 (1:49.11) and 500 (4:54.60) at the Polar Bear Winter Classic on Feb. 7. Morgan was second in the 200 (1:49.28) and won the 500 (4:53.09) at the sectional meet Feb. 14. "The biggest focus for these next couple of days is bringing my races home as fast as possible, and working on my starts and turns," Eli said. Aaron said Eli swims more than 6,500 yards per practice for most of the season. He will cut back on that this week to prepare. "With only a couple days until state prelims, his main focus will be his taper and staying healthy," Aaron said. "It's time to start cutting back on the yards and letting his body recover and hopefully be fully rested by Thursday. "As a coach, you're always proud of your swimmers when they have success, but when you're also their dad, it takes it to a whole new level. I know it's something I'll never forget."