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Tiger Sharks win WIC
TRAFALGAR - In what turned out to be a great day for some Putnam County swimmers, the Greencastle swim team earned a first-place finish in both the girls' and boys' meets Saturday.
Greencastle's girls won with 423 by one point over Cascade with 422. The South Putnam ladies took fourth place with 254 points behind South Vermillion and the North Putnam girls earned sixth with 180.
The Greencastle boys' team also squeezed out a close victory, taking first place over West Vigo, 369-368. The North Putnam boys earned third with 344 and the South Putnam 242 for sixth.
The Lady Tiger Sharks won 10 of 12 events, with the GHS team of Mallary Meyer, Amelia Smith, Grace Gillen and Corrie Romer winning the 200-medley relay. Romer was also victorious in the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle. Smith was victorious in the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke and Meyer took the 100 fly and the 100 backstroke.
The boys' team was led by strong swimming from team captains Jacob Kessler and Nathan Gobert, who added to some good times from Connor Stimpert, Logan Wood and Preston Headley. Diver Jake Bennet also added a good performance to the winning mix.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of our team," GHS coach Kent Menzel said. "We talked all week about taking the meet one swim at a time and how the heroes of the meet would be our swimmers fighting for places at every opportunity."
The Tiger Shark fighting continued with Gillen winning the 500 free, while she, Smith, Sydney Lewis and Jessica Roberts took the 200 free relay. Meyer, Romer, Roberts and Abby Meyer won the 400 free relay.
South Putnam's teams swam well across the board Saturday and the athletes took down four school records. The South Putnam girls' 200 medley relay, girls' 100 butterfly, girls' 200 free relay, and boys' backstroke all have new Eagle record holders and South Putnam finished with two individual wins.
Katie Jo Beasley, Alex Fanning, Megan Arnold and Katie Hansel broke the medley relay record. Arnold set a new standard in the 100 fly and she was also on the Eagles' record-breaking 200-freestlyle relay team with Beasley, Hansel and Ariana Warf.
Zach Rayce, who earned wins for the Eagle boys' team in the 200 individual medley and in the 100 backstroke, set the record in the 100 backstroke.
"The team overall was especially bolstered by our sophomore and freshman class, who rose to the challenge of the bigger meet and were rewarded for their hard work this season with lifetime best swims," Eagle coach Anna Kendall said. "Despite the long day and fatigue from training that I know our kids are feeling, they did an outstanding job of staying in the meet and performing consistently well. This was great preparation for the sectional meet."
Another team looking to get to its highest potential were the Cougars who swam well enough for some personal bests but were hoping for a high finish in the conference meet.
"It was actually a disappointing third-place (boys') finish," Cougar coach Josh Willer said. "We thought that we had a good opportunity to win. We knew going in we would have to be pretty perfect. We were short two guys going in. I knew all of them had to perform. We came up short in a couple of events, and it cost us the meet."
Despite the third-place finish, Willer was pleased to see the team earning lifetime bests at the end of the season.
"Overall I'm really happy with the performance," Willer said. "The swimmers swam really well. We had about 85 percent lifetime best, including some new school records. Our biggest meet coming up is sectional and we are hoping we can get some more best times. We are trying to prepare to get some kids qualified for state."
As for the WIC champions, the Tiger Shark men swim next against North Montgomery and Danville, while the women begin preparation for the IHSAA Sectional Championship.
"I am in awe of heroes like Lucas Gillen, Ruth Heithaus, Jack Romer, Kate Hershberger, Donovan Asbell, Megan Haltom, Ben Parsons, Gabby Selvia, Elijah Lewis, Kelly Hansen, JJ Custis and Cameron Lewis, all of whom just turned themselves inside out for the team," Greencastle's Menzel said. "Simply amazing athletic performances. Zach Rayce from South Putnam had an incredible afternoon, recording convincing wins in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke."
The North Putnam boys' next meet is at home against North Montgomery while girls will next swim in the sectional on Feb. 4.
The South Putnam ladies will have one more meet at Mooresville on Tuesday before the Avon sectional. The boys will also swim at Mooresville but then will not have a meet until the sectional Feb. 18 at Plainfield.