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Greencastle wins WCC title by single point
For the first time in some time, Greencastle's girls' swim squad was a part of the hunting pack at the WCC meet Saturday at DePauw University.
Despite winning 10 of 12 events, defending champions Cascade were stunned when Greencastle reclaimed the WCC title by a solitary point, 367-366. South Putnam placed third with North Putnam finishing fourth.
Depth proved to be the crucial element in the meet as Greencastle recorded eight second, five third, three fourth and four fifth place finishes along with two wins on the day.
Particularly critical were two of the last three races. Rachel Custis won the backstroke with Sydney Cassida placing fifth and Kristen Stevens placing sixth.
Greencastle then swept the backstroke, with Emily Wheeler, Nicolette Peters and Beth Ann Hansen placing first, second and third respectively.
The results catapulted Greencastle, previously behind by 27 points, into a seven-point lead. A split-second loss in the 400-yard relay could not dislodge them from the top spot and a return to the top of the WCC heap.
Afterward, Greencastle head coach Kent Menzel, after spending a few minutes in the pool himself, said that the result was a case of the squad believing in themselves and fighting for every finish.
"We knew going into the girls' meet that it was going to be an absolute toss-up and depending on how the swims went for the day, the meet could have gone either way. Our girls really brought it home today," Menzel said.
"We had lifetime best swims or season best swims every time we got in the water. We really had a lot of people moving up and making improvements on what they had done so far this season all over the pool.
"It's that kind of stepping up that made the difference, point by point, as we went through the meet. We had a talk on Friday that you have stars who win events, but swim meets are won by the people who scrap it out for seventh instead of eighth, for fifth instead of sixth," Menzel added.
"Those are the swims we had going on all over the pool today with people scrapping to improve. A great example of that was in the 100 breaststroke.
"Beth Ann Hansen had an absolutely stunning performance today to get third, a 1-2-3 finish and, really, that won the meet for us. It was a huge swim and it wasn't just Beth Ann. We had that going on all over the pool.
"We had a talk on Friday about what they thought they could swim and what I thought they could swim. I threw out a lot of times for them and I said I didn't care where they were, this is what I wanted them to swim," Menzel said.
"I told them I believed it, but I need you to believe it and then do it. The backstroke swim from Rachel [Custis] was a good example of believing in themselves," Menzel added.
"The result was amazing. I think Rachel dropped five seconds. She took command of that race, start to finish and it was an amazing swim."
South Putnam picked up a second-place finish from Courtney Sullivan in the diving competition, three third-place finishes from Morgan Deszi in the 500 free and 100 back and Josalynn Farmer in the 50 free.
The Eagles also got fourth-place finishes from Kaelynn Cox in the 200 free and 100 back and Farmer in the 100 free. Each of the three relay squads finished in third.
South Putnam head coach Matthew Edwards felt that the squad competed well against the field.
"Everybody swam well in the pool today and I feel like our kids competed very well. We dropped time across the board again, which is really all that we can ask for. I'm very pleased with the times," Edwards said.
North Putnam placed fourth in the three relays, with Elizabeth Alford placing highest for the Cougars with a fifth-place finish in the 200 IM and a sixth-place finish in the 100 free.
North Putnam head coach Tony Gray said that his small squad performed admirably.
"We came into the meet with only seven girls, so our backs were against the wall, but every swim was a personal best. We tell the kids that if they go out and swim their personal bests, everything else takes care of itself, so I was really proud of the girls," Gray said.
"They really competed hard. They knew they weren't really going to have a chance to compete for a team title but they went out and swam the time clock and they were successful doing that."
With a month before the sectional begins, the county coaches were happy with the direction that their squads were moving in.
"I think we're in a good place. We had a meet Thursday night, so we didn't get an opportunity to rest like we probably should have, but we're swimming fast. Times are dropping quickly and we're definitely headed in the right direction," Gray said.
"We'll keep the yardage up, keep working on the technique and keep dropping times every meet. So far, in the last few meets, we've done a good job of that," Edwards added.
"It's a question of getting our kids to believe in themselves. The best thing that happened today was that they did believe in themselves. That's worth six months of training right there," Menzel said.
"We got a very nice sense of momentum today. We can start to really bear down in training the next couple of weeks with the girls before tweaking it down for the sectional.
"I think that they're going to surprise themselves again when it comes to the end of the season because we've established some very good things."
Girls' Results
Greencastle 367, Cascade 366, South Putnam 243, North Putnam 126
200 Medley Relay -- 1. Cascade (Lewis, Rosales, Solik, Weatherman) 2:04.40; 2. Greencastle (Custis, Wheeler, Gomez, Howard) 2:04.95; 3. South Putnam (Deszi, Kiste, Trisler, Boetjer) 2:27.55; 4. North Putnam (Wolf, Muse, Alford, Volland) 2:37.37
200 Free -- 1. Breeding (C) 2:13.30; 2. Liveoak (G) 2:22.78; 3. Edwards (C) 2:25.69; 4. Cox (S) 2:35.87; 5. Moore (G) 2:41.72; 6. Peters (G) 2:42.14; 7. Boetjer (S) 2:48.41; 8. Bruce (C) 2:48.47; 9. Muse (N) 2:49.07; 10. Wilson (S) 2:49.16; 11. Miles (N) 2:53.64; 12. Volland (N) 3:02.07
200 IM -- 1. Weatherman (C) 2:34.83; 2. Rosales (C) 2:38.39; 3. Wheeler (G) 2:39.80; 4. Gomez (G) 2:44.43; 5. Alford (N) 3:04.76; 6. Mason (G) 3:17.11; 7. Kiste (S) 3:26.00; 8. Wozniewski (C) 3:27.91
50 Free -- 1. Solik (C) 26.38; 2. Howard (G) 28.53; 3. Farmer (S) 29.24; 4. Lewis (C) 29.40; 5. Beams (G) 30.38; 6. Stevens (G) 30.76; 7. Neuhausel (C) 31.31; 8. Moore (N) 32.05; 9. Trisler (S) 32.51; 10. Wolf (N) 32.95; 11. Livesay (N) 34.13; 12. Shaw (S) 35.39
Diving -- 1. Arthur (C) 120.30; 2. Sullivan (S) 118.30; 3. Seahorn (G) 115.40; 4. Fauvergue (G) 19.60; 5. Breedlove (C) 103.15; 6. Chambers (C) 89.05; 7. Williams (G) 84.10
100 Fly -- 1. Rosales (C) 1:09.04; 2. Weatherman (C) 1:12.46; 3. Gomez (G) 1:13.08; 4. Beams (G) 1:18.10; 5. Trisler (S) 1:21.76; 6. Hansen (G) 1:32.03; 7. Williams (C) 1:40.29; 8. Shaw (S) 1:51.66
100 Free -- 1. Solik (C) 59.63; 2. Howard (G) 1:03.8; 3. Custis (G) 1:04.34; 4. Farmer (S) 1:06.37; 5. Beasley (S) 1:07.35; 6. Alford (N) 1:10.44; 7. Moore (N) 1:15.23; 8. Muse (N) 1:15.84; 9. Boetjer (S) 1:16.51; 10. Gibson (C) 1:17.11; 11. Wood (G) 1:18.59; 12. Trauner (C) 1:23.37
500 Free -- 1. Breeding (C) 6:14.86; 2. Liveoak (G) 6:32.49; 3. Deszi (S) 6:53.21; 4. Edwards (C) 6:54.23; 5. Moore (G) 7:08.48; 6. Wilson (S) 7:27.03; 7. Williams (C) 7:38.21; 8. Mason (G) 7:59.20; 9. Volland (N) 8:03.54; 10. Kelley (S) 9:09.51
200 Free Relay -- 1. Cascade (Breeding, Edwards, Weatherman, Solik) 1:52.88; 2. Greencastle (Wheeler, Peters, Beams, Liveoak) 2:00.62; 4. South Putnam (Beasley, Cox, Trisler, Farmer) 2:02.50; 4. North Putnam (Livesay, Alford, Moore, Muse) 2:11.29
100 Backstroke -- 1. Custis (G) 1:10.89; 2. Lewis (C) 1:12.07; 3. Deszi (S) 1:19.02; 4. Cox (S) 1:19.53; 5. Cassida (G) 1:20.80; 6. Stevens (G) 1:23.53; 7. Neuhausel (C) 1:24.71; 8. Wolf (N) 1:26.92; 9. Bruce (C) 1:31.27
100 Breaststroke -- 1. Wheeler (G) 1:19.08; 2. Peters (G) 1:21.88; 3. Hansen (G) 1:29.25; 4. Beasley (S) 1:32.09; 5. McHugh (S) 1:32.31; 6. Franklin (C) 1:34.97; 7. Whicker (C) 1:35.38; 8. Kiste (S) 1:38.90; 9. Wozniewski (C) 1:43.22; 10. Miles (N) 1:55.52
400 Free Relay -- 1. Cascade (Breeding, Edwards, Lewis, Rosales) 4:15.92; 2. Greencastle (Custis, Gomez, Liveoak, Howard) 4:16.00; 3. South Putnam (Farmer, Cox, Deszi, Beasley) 4:38.71; 4. North Putnam (Livesay, Moore, Volland, Wolf) 5:18.31