Girls Gold Star Awards

1977-1979

Ohio High School Swimming

"Keep in mind that the past is not history, but a much vaster region of the dead, gone, unknowable or forgotten. History is what we choose to remember."
Joseph J. Ellis

1977

  • Tracey Carey
    Freshman
    Cincinnati Princeton
    • In this, the inaugural girls swimming season for the OHSAA, 7 different girls won state championships but only one girl was a double event winner, making it an easy pick for our inaugural Gold Star Award. Tracy Carey came through winning both the 100 and 200 Freestyle, and since this is the inaugural girls state meet, she set a new state meet record in both events. She also helped lead Princeton to a 4th place team title over bigger name schools and anchored their 2nd place 400 Freestyle Relay team.

    Since no girls posted nationally ranked (Top-16) times this year, we'll go through every other event winner since all of those winning times are technically state meet records. Carolyn Johnson, a junior from Cleveland Orange was the 50 Freestyle state champion and finished runner-up in the 100 Freestyle. Mary Nielander, sophomore from Solon was state champion in the 500 Freestyle, and state runner-up in the 200 IM. Pam Heggie, a junior from Cleveland Heights was the state champion in the 100 Breaststroke and finished runner-up in the 200 Freestyle. Marjorie Hill, senior from Cincinnati Finneytown was the 200 IM champion and finished 3rd in the 100 Breaststroke. Vivian Lee, a senior from Cincinnati Wyoming was 100 Butterfly state champion and 3rd in the 200 IM. Finally, Kathy Rhodenbaugh of Cincinnati Oak Hills was the state champion in the 100 Backstroke. Despite a dominant team victory, no girls from champion Worthington won individual events.

1978

  • Kim Carlisle
    Junior
    Cincninati Finneytown
    • While Worthington HS successfully defended their team title, not much else was the same in Ohio swimming for girls in 1978 when comparing to the inaugural 1977 season. Kim Carlisle, a Cincinnati Pepsi Marlin, was the clear-cut choice for the Gold Star Award after she won a maximum 3 events: the 200 IM, 100 Backstroke, and 200 Medley Relay. Impressive in its own right, Carlisle was actually much better than that. In those 3 events, she blew away the old state records, was the national champion in the 100 Backstroke, and 3rd nationally in the 200 IM! In fact, Carlisle's 57.117 time in the 100 Backstroke set a new national record!

    While Carlisle was the easy choice, two other swimmers at least deserve mention in our MVP section here. Barb Major of Lakewood and Kim Hillen of North Canton GlenOak were also double-event winners. Major, a junior, was the 50 and 100 Freestyle state champion, and finished both in record time. Her 50 Freestyle was the 3rd fastest in the nation this season, and her 100 Freestyle was also Top-16 national swim. Hillen, a senior, was the 200 and 500 Freestyle state champion, and like Major, swam both of her wins in state record time. Hillen didn't have a top 3 national swim, but both of her times were also Top-16.

1979

  • Kim Carlisle
    Senior
    Cincinnati Finneytown
    • For the second straight year, Kim Carlisle is the easy pick for the Gold Star Award, and that’s with several other girls also posting performances that got some serious recognition on the national scale. Carlisle repeated what she did almost to a T in 1978, that is, winning the 100 Backstroke, 200 IM, and 200 Medley Relay. Again, she did all of that in record time. Her leadoff leg on the 200 Medley Relay propelled Finneytown to a state record, and state title by 3.4 seconds! Carlisle then won the 200 IM again with a 2:04.29 that was the 2nd best time in the nation this year. Finally, she defended her 100 Backstroke title with a time that won by an unheard of 4 seconds! She posted another 57.11 time that was actually a few thousandths of a second better than her 1978 time, therefore giving her yet another national record in that event!

    Barb Major, senior from Lakewood, was the only other double-event winner this year. She won the 50 and 100 Freestyle and had the 2nd and 5th best times in the country this year in those respective events. Major’s best times actually came at the district meet and state prelims, but her best times of 23.6 and 51.9 were both state records. Cathy Aschinger, a junior from Upper Arlington also deserves mention after her performances in the 100 Breaststroke and 200 IM. Aschinger’s 100 Breaststroke time of 1:04.83 was a new state record, while she finished behind Carlisle in the 200 IM with a 2:06. Those times were the 3rd and 7th best times in the nation, respectively. Although not a contender for the Gold Star Award, Karen DiBlasio, Jeanne Barkey, and Kathy Gallagher all need to be mentioned for their notable swims. DiBlasio, a Newark junior, had a double Top-16 performance in the 200 and 500 Freestyle, winning the state title in the latter. Barkey was the 100 Butterfly champion and 50 Freestyle runner-up, with her 100 Butterfly time setting a new state record and final national rank of 9th. Finally, Gallagher, a Finneytown freshman, set a new state record in the 200 Freestyle, was 2nd in the 500 Frestyle, and both of those swims were nationally ranked. Gallagher and Carlisle were both huge in Finneytown unseating the 2x defending champion Worthington for their first school title.