The St. Charles boys swimming team grabbed their second state title at the last possible moment in Saturday’s championship meet at Canton’s Branin Natatorium.

The final event of high school competitions is the 400 freestyle relay. The Cardinals’ anchor, Austin Carpenter, surged into the lead at the wall to beat St. Xavier’s Jaeger Ellerman by five one-hundredths of a second and St. Charles edged the Bombers by one point to capture the top spot.

Carpenter also won as an individual in the 100 free, was on the Cardinals’ winning 200 medley relay team, and finished second in the 100 breaststroke.

The other members of the St. Charles 400 free relay were junior Alex Wu, senior Andrew Zarick, and junior Brad King. Also on the 200 medley relay were senior Wyatt Julian, Zarick, and junior Jake Lloyd. Lloyd, Wu, Zarick, and King nabbed the 200 free relay as well. Lloyd was also second in the 50 and 100 free.

In other DI boys action, Upper Arlington sophomore Sammy DaJusta finished third in the 200 free. Lancaster senior Jack Hensley and Dublin Coffman senior Cameron Frazier placed second and third, respectively, in the 200 individual medley. Dublin Coffman senior Ben Oswiecinski was third in the 500 free.

A Central Ohio team also won the DI girls championship. Upper Arlington, led by senior Hayden Hollingsworth, a Georgia commit, captured their second straight title, the 14th in the school’s history. Hollingsworth won the 50 free championship for the third straight year and finished second in the 100 fly.

Hollingsworth was also on the UA winning 200 medley relay with junior Abby Oliphant, junior Elise Schantz, and sophomore Maren Berg. Berg finished third in the 100 free. Hollingsworth also anchored the victorious 200 free relay with junior Ashton Mumaw, sophomore Riley Hollingsworth, and freshman Kiera Powers.

The Golden Bears clinched the championship with a first-place finish in the 400 free relay. Riley Hollingsworth, Berg, Oliphant, and Powers combined for the win.

The other Central Ohio DI girls’ champion was Dublin Jerome senior Milly Leonard, a Tennessee signee, who captured her second 500 free title, closely followed in that race by Dublin Coffman senior Katrina Kollin, who will compete for Ohio University next year. In the 200 free, Kollin finished in second with Leonard in third.

Other top finishers included the second place Jerome 200 medley relay team made up of Leonard, senior Helen Randolph, junior Helen Randolph, and senior Olivia Matson. Randolph also finished second in the 200 individual medley. In the 100 free, Olentangy Berlin junior Leah Nebraska placed second and in the 100 breaststroke Hilliard Darby Alexis Peltos finished in third.