CANTON -- The Ohio High School Athletic Association swimming and diving state tournament began Tuesday at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, and the Division I girls and boys swimming preliminaries hit the pool starting Friday morning at 9 AM, with their finals on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM. The swimming championships mark the first OHSAA state tournament of the 2023-24 winter sports season, and Little Miami is proud to announce that Panther brother's Leland (senior) and Caeden (sophomore) have qualified into the historic tournament.

"We are so excited to watch 'Woeste^2' advance into the state championships," said first-year Kari Nofziger. "They've worked so hard and it is such a unique situation having two talented brothers compete at this level. As you would imagine, they push each other to be their absolute best!" 

Both Leland and Caeden advance into the tournament in the boys' 200 yard IM. Leland qualifies at No. 12 with a time of 1:53.66 and Caeden begins at No. 27 with a time of 1:57.09. The Top 16 qualifiers advance into The Finals. Additionally, Leland ranks No. 27 at 52.97 in the boys' 100 yard backstroke and Caeden enters the boys' 100 yard breastroke at No. 29 with a time of 59.50.

The 2023-24 swim season has been a historic record-setting campaign for the Woeste Bros, and next year Leland will take his talents to the University of Findlay to swim for the Oilers. This season, Caeden has rewrote the Little Miami swim record book by logging top times in the 50 breaststroke at 28.12, the 100 breaststroke at 59.50, and the 200 breaststroke at 2:11.41.

Leland also had an accomplished senior season this winter with setting record marks in the 100 IM with a time of 54.82, a 2:01.64 in the 200 fly, and logged a speedy 24.63 in the 50 butterfly. Additionally, he owns a program-high mark of 16:44.69 in the 1650.

And when the Bros. were part of relay teams this season, the Panthers claimed school records in the 200 medley relay (1:38.99) and the 200 free relay (1:30.31). It's been a great season for the Woeste Family in the pool, and #1PantherNation supports you in your quest for a state championship! Go Panthers! A complete listing of OHSAA D-I state qualifiers is available HERE, and more information on this weekend's championship event can be found HERE!