Tiger Sharks seize county swim crown

GREENCASTLE -- The Greencastle girls' swim team captured eight events on the night and was crowned the 2010 Putnam County champs after defeating South Putnam and North Putnam. The Tiger Sharks scored 278 for first, while South Putnam was second with 201 and North Putnam was third with 101.

The win was especially nice for GHS as it was celebrating senior night.

"It was obviously a good way to send out our seniors with the county championship," GHS head coach Luke Beasley said. "Our goal was pretty simple coming in. We probably didn't expect a lot of great swims on a night like tonight. In the past, we've had a little trouble swimming our best at this meet, but that being said, we still had a lot of standout performances, especially early in the meet.

"Melissa Ball got on our all time top 10 list with her 200 free, Natasha Aring had her season best 200 IM, another senior in Sarah Dory had her season best IM, I believe personal best, so it was really exciting for those three girls to get their meet started off the way they wanted to," he added.

The goal may have been simply coming in, but South Putnam quickly showed they were in a fighting mood Thursday.

The Eagles came out and scorched the lanes in the 200 medley relay, setting a new school record in the process. South was first with a time of 2:08.54.

"We broke a record and that was awesome -- in the medley relay. They broke it by over a second. That was Sarah New, Jessica York, Kate Sherwood and Amanda Lund. I'm real happy with their time tonight," Eagle head coach Emily Coers.

For Greencastle, Melissa Ball once again led the way, capturing two individual wins and was part of both of the Tiger Sharks' relay wins.

Ball won the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:06.40 and then bested teammate Sara Culler by almost a full minute in the 500 freestyle. The duo swam 5:46.61 and 6:45.86, respectively.

Also getting wins for Greencastle were Natasha Aring in the 200 IM (2:37.28), Melanie Bittles in the 50 freestyle (28.39) and the 100 freestyle (1:03.24) and Sydney Terry in the 100 backstroke (1:11.94). The 200 free relay team of Bittles, Ball, Sarah Beams and Alison Howard won with a time of 1:53.48, while the team of Aring, Culler, Ball and Sarah Dory were victorious in the 400 free relay in a time of 4:15.39.

Beasley was happy with the overall performance of his team, but was especially pleased with two girls in particular.

"I thought Sydney Terry had a nice meet. Sydney stepped up and swam well. Sarah Beams had a personal best in the 100 fly and McKenzie St. Marie, a personal best in the 100 back and those are two girls who have made a lot of improvement just throughout this season. It's exciting for them to see that their hard work is paying off," Beasley said.

Especially satisfying was the 400 free relay win. The team is comprised of all seniors and battled back in the final leg to overtake South Putnam and get the win.

"Then that 400 freestyle relay with all seniors there. That was sort of an emotional, exciting way for those girls to close their careers here at Greencastle. Obviously there's big things left at sectional, but that was pretty exciting," Beasley commented.

The Eagles had three individual wins in addition to their relay win. Sherwood finished a second ahead of Greencastle's Aring to win the 100 butterfly and teammate York blew away the field in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:17.91. Alyssia Lollar collected 144.20 points to win the diving event.

Coers was pleased with her team's wins, but was equally impressed by the performance of some of her second-place finishers.

"We had two big finishes in the 50 free," she said. "Amanda (Lund) went second and Josie (Farmer) got third, so that was nice. Alyssia (Lollar) won diving and she's a repeat county winner.

"Kate Sherwood came out and won the 100 fly, that really surprised me and I was really happy to see that. She got her personal best time tonight. Our 200 free relay put up a big fight, but Greencastle beat us by a little bit, so I was happy with their swim. Sarah New in the 100 back swam well, she got second," Coers commented.

A person to keep an eye on is York. She's closing in on South Putnam's school record in the breaststroke, with her next opportunity to do so being on the biggest stage so far this season.

"She's coming close to our record -- real close, within a second -- so I'm hoping she can pull that off at sectional. That would be really nice," Coers said.

While they didn't captured any wins on the night, North Putnam head coach Wesley Richardson was more than pleased with the effort his team gave on the night.

"I thought they did excellent tonight," he said. "I'm very proud of them. They came in and had fun -- I was really surprised. They put up some pretty good times, so I was pleased with them tonight. And I hope to see the same at sectional. They did really well and I'm happy."

The Cougars did, however, record three second-place finishes on the night. Shellie Harper was second in the 200 IM (2:45.59) and the 100 free (1:04.92), while teammate Caroline Byrd finished second in the 100 breaststroke (1:26.50).

Richardson lamented about the loss of a senior leader, but also acknowledge the best for his program might still be yet to come.

"Tonight they saw their times improve and I think it's only going to get better from her for them. Unfortunately we're losing Mandy Preecs, she's a senior this year, but next year I think you'll see even better out of the girls," he said.

Coers spoke briefly after the meet about how she challenged her team prior to the start of the meet and how they responded.

"This is a great meet. I challenged them when we came in to give it their all. We've only got this and sectional and I wanted to see some effort and they showed it to me -- definitely. I was really pleased," she said.

Truly coming full circle on the evening, Beasley acknowledged the impact his seniors have had on the team and on himself in his short tenure at the Tiger Sharks head coach.

"I'm certainly proud of what our seniors have done," he acknowledged. "I came here their sophomore year, so I've been with them the whole way here. I started off as a very young coach and they've been great throughout. They're very supportive and helped with me -- I've looked at them at times for leadership and things like that and those four girls have always been there to provide that. I'm really proud of them; I'm happy for them and excited for what they'll do at sectional."

The teams will be back in action next Thursday in the preliminary round of the 2010 sectional at Crawfordsville High School at 5:30 p.m.

At Greencastle

Putnam County Girls Swimming Meet

Team Results

Greencastle 278, South Putnam 201, North Putnam 101

Individual Results

200 Medley R -- 1. South Putnam (New, Sherwood, York, Lund) 2:08.54, 2. Greencastle (Aring, Beams, Terry, Bittles) 2:10.68, 3. North Putnam (Foltz, Byrd, Novak, Harper) 2:18.76, 4. South Putnam (Arnold, Cox, Friesenborg, Farmer) 2:24.93, 5. Greencastle (St. Marie, Liveoak, Hedge, Romer) 2:31.34

200 -- 1. Ball (GHS) 2:06.40, 2. Culler (GHS) 2:30.96, 3. Liveoak (GHS) 2:39.45, 4. Cox (SP) 2:42.39, 5. Spencer (SP) 2:46.45, 6. Wilson (SP) 2:51.11, 7. Preecs (NP) 3:05.49

200 IM -- 1. Aring (GHS) 2:37.28, 2. Harper (NP) 2:45.59, 3. Dory (GHS) 2:45.69, 4. Tomasino (SP) 2:48.36, 5. Byrd (NP) 2:48.80

50 -- 1. Bittles (GHS) 28.39, 2. Lund (SP) 28.67, 3. Farmer (SP) 28.87, 4. Foltz (NP) 28.88, 5. Beams (GHS) 29.14, 6. Cox (SP) 30.23, 7. Friesenborg (SP) 32.83, 8. Lasiter (NP) 34.43, 9. Mason (GHS) 36.59, 10. Kaufman (NP) 38.00, 11. Johnson (SP) 38.49, 12. Cline (SP) 42.61

Diving -- 1. Lollar (SP) 144.20, 2. Good (GHS) 123.65, 3. Seahorn (GHS) 122.15, 4. Wood (GHS) 115.10, 5. Beasley (SP) 109.35, 6. Terry (SP) 91.90

100 butterfly -- 1. Sherwood (SP) 1:10.92, 2. Aring (GHS) 1:11.94, 3. Beams (GHS) 1:14.08, 4. Hedge (GHS) 1:30.15

100 -- 1. Bittles (GHS) 1:03.24, 2. Harper (NP) 1:04.92, 3. Romer (GHS) 1:09.17, 4. Howard (GHS) 1:10.69, 5. Arnold (SP) 1:16.02, 6. Lasiter (NP) 1:17.29, 7. Mason (GHS) 1:20.18, 8. Kaufman (NP) 1:22.50, 9. Johnson (SP) 1:32.00, 10. Cline (SP) 1:42.26

500 -- 1. Ball (GHS) 5:46.61, 2. Culler (GHS) 6:45.86, 3. Liveoak (GHS) 7:00.52, 4. Spencer (SP) 7:21.19, 5. Wilson (SP) 7:42.11

200 R -- 1. Greencastle (Bittles, Howard, Beams, Ball) 1:53.48, 2. South Putnam (Farmer, Beasley, Tomasino, Lund) 1:57.52, 3. North Putnam (Byrd, Harper, Foltz, Novak) 2:04.84, 4. Greencastle (Hedge, Dory, Mason, Culler) 2:15.13, 5. South Putnam (Arnold, Johnson, Cline, Friesenborg) 2:35.19

100 backstroke -- 1. Terry (GHS) 1:11.94, 2. New (SP) 1:16.49, 3. Foltz (NP) 1:18.11, 4. St. Marie (GHS) 1:21.32, 5. Dory (GHS) 1:24.34, 6. Arnold (SP) 1:27.34, 7. Preecs (NP) 1:47.27

100 breaststroke -- 1. York (SP) 1:17.91, 2. Byrd (NP) 1:26.50, 3. Hedge (GHS) 1:28.36, 4. Romer (GHS) 1:29.53, 5. Friesenborg (SP) 1:29.53, 6. Novak (NP) 1:34.27, 7. Good (GHS) 1:35.39

400 R -- 1. Greencastle (Aring, Dory, Culler, Ball) 4:15.39, 2. South Putnam (Farmer, Tomasino, Cox, Lund) 4:19.91, 3. Greencastle (Liveoak, Terry, Mason, Howard) 4:48.78, 4. South Putnam (Beasley, Spencer, Wilson, Sherwood) 4:59.11, 5. North Putnam (Kaufman, Novak, Lasiter, Preecs) 5:26.94