GHS girl swimmers score win over Bruins

Thursday, December 2, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- A night after having narrowly lost to Terre Haute South Tuesday, the Greencastle girls' swim team had to make an immediate turnaround and take on an opportunistic Tri-West squad that nearly pulled off a stunner.

The score heading into the final event was tight enough that a win for either squad would seal the meet in their favor. Fortunately, Greencastle had enough fight left to pull away and down the visiting Bruins 96-88.

Tri-West compiled seven wins on the evening compared to only five Greencastle wins, but could not out do the hosts when they were not at 100 percent.

Melanie Bittles won the 100 fly, Sydney Cassida claimed first in the 500 free and Sydney Terry took the 100 backstroke.

The relay team of Cassida, Bittles, Terry and Emily Wheeler nipped Tri-West in the 200 medley relay by two tenths of a second, while the relay tam of Cassida, Terry, Rachael Custis and Alison Howard won the meet clinching 400 free relay.

Greencastle head coach Luke Beasley gave a great deal of credit to his squad and to one freshman in particular.

"It was an eight-point win, but a win is a win. I'm proud of the girls and I think it's difficult going from swimming Terre Haute South the night before, turning right around and having to come back for another competition," Beasley said.

"It's difficult, maybe not physically, but emotionally, to get up and get excited about racing again. Overall, I though that the effort from the girls was pretty solid. I don't think we were at our best tonight by any means."

"Sydney Cassida was definitely the swimmer of the meet. Her swims in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle were season bests, personal bests, so we're really happy with her progress tonight. Melanie Bittles had a pretty nice meet tonight," Beasley continued.

"Haylie Romer did a nice job in the 100 breaststroke getting the touch there for third place. You may not think it, because it was a third place finish, but that's a point swing there that I think helped us make sure we had control of the meet," Beasley added.

Thursday will see the boys squad travel down the road to South Putnam High School for a clash with the Eagles. With a day to recuperate, Beasley plans to change things up a little bit.

"I think our boys always get excited to swim a county rival. It'll be one of those meets where we're going to mix some of our line-ups up. We didn't get a chance to do that against Terre Haute South. Against them, we had to swim our best line-up," Beasley said.

"That's a good team and we had to be at our best just to compete with them. I think at South Putnam we'll get a chance to swim guys in different spots and see what kind of versatility we have. Figure out what other events swimmers can be effective in," Beasley added.

"I expect a lot of good swims. The guys are working hard, training hard. Every time we compete we expect to have good results, so I think they're looking forward to it too. It'll be a fun meet."

At Greencastle

Greencastle 96, Tri-West 88

200 Medley Relay -- 1. Greencastle (Cassida, Wheeler, Bittles, Terry) 2:07.73; 2. Tri-West (Hagemier, S. McCalley, Dorrell, A. McCalley) 2:07.93; 3. Greencastle (St. Marie, Romer, Gomez, Beams) 2:19.80; 4. Tri-West (Kahl, Craft, Hake, Wolf) 2:23.96

200 Free -- 1. Heath (T) 2:20.61; 2. Howard (G) 2:26.13; 3. Keck (T) 2:33.93; 4. Sheets (T) 2:35.16; 5. Beams (G) 2:37.59; 6. Hedge (G) 2:42.68

200 IM -- 1. S. McCalley (T) 2:33.62; 2. Cassida (G) 2:41.51; 3. Wheeler (G) 2:42.98; 4. Romer (G) 2:55.59; 5. Hake (T) 3:06.95

50 Free -- 1. A. McCalley (T) 27.19; 2. Terry (G) 27.94; 3. Bittles (G) 28.97; 4. Custis (G) 29.27; 5. Kahl (T) 29.56; 6. Dorrell (T) 30.40

Diving -- 1. Dickerson (T) 199.95; 2. Seahorn (G) 129.45; 3. Fauvergue (G) 123.20; 4. Gilbert (G) 118.45

100 Fly -- 1. Bittles (G) 1:09.63; 2. Gomez (G) 1:16.12; 3. Dorrell (T) 1:16.98; 4. Beams (G) 1:22.75; 5. Hake (T) 1:27.92

100 Free -- 1. A. McCalley (T) 59.38; 2. Custis (G) 1:05.27; 3. Howard (G) 1:06.24; 4. Wolf (T) 1:06.86; 5. Kahl (T) 1:08.30; 6. St. Marie (G) 1:14.12

500 Free -- 1. Cassida (G) 6:34.17; 2. Heath (T) 6:39.41; 3. Sheets (T) 6:57.53; 4. Keck (T) 7:05.61

200 Free Relay -- 1. Tri-West (S. McCalley, Dorrell, Heath, A. McCalley) 1:56.13; 2. Greencastle (Custis, Wheeler, Beams, Bittles) 1:56.52; 3. Tri-West (Craft, Hake, Keck, Wolf) 2:06.31; 4. Greencastle (Romer, Gomez, Hedge, Howard) 2:07.20

100 Backstroke -- 1. Terry (G) 1:12.20; 2. Hagemier (T) 1:15.01; 3. St. Marie (G) 1:25.84; 4. Smith (T) 1:50.18; 5. Stokers (T) 2:14.17

100 Breaststroke -- 1. S. McCalley (T) 1:19.83; 2. Wheeler (G) 1:23.27; 3. Romer (G) 1:29.37; 4. Craft (T) 1:29.56; 5. Hedge (G) 1:31.46; 6. Hott (T) 1:54.26

400 Free Relay -- 1. Greencastle (Cassida, Custis, Howard, Terry) 4:23.48; 2. Tri-West (Wolf, Kahl, Keck, Heath) 4:36.41; 3. Tri-West (Sheets, Hagemier, DeSutter, Craft) 5:01.95

Next meet -- The Greencastle boy's swim team competes Thursday against South Putnam. The girl's squad resumes action next Tuesday at Bloomington North High School.