Greencastle swims away with WCC honors

GHS swimmer Nick Stevens powers down the lane during Saturday's West Central Conference meet at DePauw. Stevens swam a record-breaking 4:56.21 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Saturday the WCC swim meet was held at DePauw University. Greencastle girls and boys teams both came away with the victory. The girls won the meet with a score of 410 points and the boys won with a score of 386 points.

The meet was exciting from the very beginning with both the girls' and boys' medley relays breaking meet records. Between the girls and boys, there were eight meet records broken, all by Greencastle, as well as many personal bests.

For the boys "six out of eleven swimming events were meet records," noted Coach Daniel Bretscher of Greencastle. "That is over fifty percent, and you can't ask for more than that."

The Lady Tigersharks had a total of two meet records. "We had numerous personal bests, and that spans their whole swimming career. For a senior to get a personal best at their conference meet is a really awesome thing," stated Coach Luke Beasley of Greencastle.

Coach Beasley also noted that "although the meet was not necessarily a close meet, every school that comes [to the meet] has goals and whether you win or loose the contest, you have goals that you want to meet."

The various coaches all had an underlying theme, the athletes came out, worked hard, improved times, and had fun.

North Putnam girls and boys both came in fourth of the five teams. The girls scored 172 points and the boys scored 183. Coach Wesley Richardson was happy with the performance saying that "we did better than what we did last meet."

Cougar Katie Wilcox finished third in the 100-freestyle with a time of 1:00.42. She also finished second in the 50-yard freestyle ina time of 26.99.

And that is what they all strive for: improvement.

South Putnam teams did well also. The Lady Eagles came in third with a score of 185 points. The boys came in second place with a score of 226 points. When asked how she thought her team did for the day Coach Emily Coers said how impressed and proud she was of her team. "They kept up the momentum the whole meet. They worked hard and I am really proud of [how they placed in the meet]. Both of our 400 free relays had personal bests because they both dropped over ten seconds each."

As stated above, many meet records were broken over the course of the day. In the girls 200 medley relay, Kelsey Murtaugh, Morgan Terry, Melissa Ball, and Erika Collins came in with a time of 1:56.77. The other girls' record of the day was the 100 backstroke, broken by Kelsey Murtaugh with a time of 1:00.95.

Records for the boys included the 200 medley relay of Luke Crimmins, Ryan Payne, Jesse Elkins, and Luke Smith with a time of 1:41.84, the 200 free relay of Jay Guffey, Luke Smith, Jesse Elkins, and Nick Stevens with a time of 1:33.52, and the distance relay of Nick Stevens, Jay Guffey, Walter Chiarella, and Luke Crimmins with a time of 3:25.98.

Other boys' records broken throughout the day included the 100 backstroke, and the 200 and 500 freestyle. Luke Crimmins won the backstroke with a time of 55.20. Luke also won the 50 freestyle, coming up just shy of the record with a time of 22.47. The other two records broken were both set by Nick Stevens.

The record in the 500 free was previously held by Coach Daniel Bretscher set back in 2001. It was asked of Coach Bretscher how he felt about his record coming down. His reply was, "If one of my records has to fall I would like it to be by one of the swimmers I coach, so it was a fun race to watch."

Teammates Kelsey Murtagh and Melissa Ball raced to a tie in the 100-freestyle. Murtagh and Ball finished with a time of 58.05.

Other firsts for the GHS girls included the 200 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 butterfly, 500 free, 200 free relay, and the 400 free relay. There was one other first place for the girls, but this one was very unique. In the 100 freestyle, Melissa Ball and Kelsey Murtaugh tied with a time of 58.05.

For the GHS boys other firsts included the 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, and the 100 breaststroke.

There were other notable placements from the county teams. Second place in the girls' medley went to North Putnam's relay of Michelle Harper, Briana Smith, Kiana Werner, and Katie Wilcox. Second, third, and fourth places were picked up by individuals from Greencastle and South Putnam in the girls 200 free, as well as second and third in the boys 200 free.

Although Speedway swimmer, Sam Welch won the boys IM, individuals from all three county schools placed in the next seven places.

In the girls 50 free, Katie Wilcox of North Putnam came in a close second place behind Melissa Ball of Greencastle, and in the boys 50, the top seven placements were from a variety of Greencastle and North Putnam swimmers.

The top three in the girls 500 were all Greencastle swimmers.

In Saturday's diving competition, there were a total of ten girls, and five boys. Though all the divers did well, winners for the day were Kailani Musson from Cascade with a score of 162.70 for the girls, and Luke Marsh from Cascade whose score was 174.10 for the boys.

Although Cascade divers took first in both the girls and the boys diving, the divers as a whole looked very good for the day.

South Putnam's Sam Gould comes up for air during the 100-breaststroke during Saturday's WCC meet. Gould finished fourth with a time of 1:12.98.

At Erdmann Natatoriam

2009 West Central Conference Meet

Girls' Results

Greencastle 410, Cascade 307, South Putnam 185, North Putnam 172, Speedway 112

200 Medley Relay -- 1, Greencastle (Murtagh, M. Terry, Ball, Collins) 1:56.77*. 2, North Putnam (Harper, Smith, Werner, Wilcox), 2:11.56. 3, Cascade (English, Berling, Weatherman, Huelsmann), 2:11.62. 4, Speedway (Runge, Lyon, Tawney, Wilson), 2:12.03. 5, South Putnam (New, York, Sherwood, Lund), 2:16.28.

200 Freestyle -- 1, Collins (G) 2:07.24. 2, M. Terry (G) 2:13.49. 3, Culler (G) 2:24.10. 4, Arnold (SP) 2:25.78. 5, Bragg (Ca) 2:30.67. 6, Toole (Ca) 2:30.68. 7, Burger (Ca) 2:37.09. 8, Cox (SP) 2:41.28. 9, Asher (SP) 2:44.73. 10, Titus (Ca) x2:45.69. 11, Novak (NP) 2:51.31. 12, Spencer (SP) x2:55.30. 13, Greerson (NP) 3:01.81. 14, M. Preecs (NP) 3:06.34.

200 IM -- 1, Gannaway (G) 2:35.32. 2, Aring (G) 2:38.93. 3, English (Ca) 2:42.10. 4, Musson (Ca) 2:49.85. 5, Harper (NP) 2:53.35. 6, York (SP) 2:56.70. 7, Werner (NP) 2:57.57. 8, Tesmer (G) 2:59.42. 9, Warren (SP) 3:08.96. 10, Rembold (Ca) 3:20.62. 11, C. Preecs (NP) 3:25.25.

50 Freestyle -- 1, Ball (G) 26.17. 2, Wilcox (NP) 26.99. 3, Eckols (Ca) 27.10. 4, Bittles (G) 28.30. 5, S. Terry (G) 28.63. 6, Lund (SP) 28.65. 7, Vance (SP) 29.21. 8, Runge (Spw) 29.41. 9, Beams (G) x29.90. 10, Johnson (NP) 30.90. 11, Smith (NP) 31.17. 12, Lasiter (NP) x32.58. 13, Handy (G) x32.66. 14, Scott (NP) x32.78. 15, Michael (G) x33.17. 16, Hedge (G) x33.51. 17, New (SP) 33.97. 18, Keutzer (Ca) 34.54. 19, McClure (Ca) 35.45. 20, Nordmeyer (NP) x35.52. 21, Aker (SP) x36.22. 22, McKean (SP) x36.24. 23, Gibson (Ca) x37.93. 24, Kaufman (NP) x39.05. 25, R. Smith (NP) x42.59. 26, Johnson (SP) x43.09.

Diving -- 1, Musson (Ca) 162.70. 2, Henson (Ca) 148.30. 3, Like (G) 145.45. 4, Lollar (SP) 139.00. 5, Weber (Ca) 131.05. 6, Poor (G) 127.15. 7, Tawney (Spw) 117.95. 8, Marlott (Spw) 106.15. 9, Williams (G) 99.35. 10, Morrison (Spw) 87.40.

100 Butterfly -- 1, Bittles (G) 1:08.39. 2, Weatherman (Ca) 1:09.11. 3, Aring (G) 1:11.33. 4, Barnes (Ca) 1:14.97. 5, Sherwood (SP) 1:18.26. 6, Beams (G) 1:24.47. 7, Tesmer (G) x1:25.23. 8, Zeiner (Ca) 1:25.89.

100 Freestyle -- 1, Ball (G) 58.05†. 1, Murtagh (G) 58.05†. 3, Wilcox (NP) 1:00.42. 4, Eckols (Ca) 1:03.21. 5, Harper (NP) 1:05.38. 6, S. Terry (G) 1:05.41. 7, Arnold (SP) 1:06.91. 8, Dory (G) x1:07.12. 9, Johnson (NP) 1:10.34. 10, Morris (Ca) 1:12.50. 11, Scott (NP) x1:17.28. 12, Edwards (Ca) 1:18.52. 13, Aker (SP) 1:20.94. 14, Nordmeyer (NP) x1:22.32. 15, Preecs (NP) x1:25.37. 16, Kaufman (NP) x1:29.80. 17, Johnson (SP) 1:40.13.

500 Freestyle -- 1, M. Terry (G) 5:51.02. 2, Poor (G) 6:28.35. 3, Culler, (G) 6:29.05. 4, Wilson (Spw) 6:34.24. 5, Bragg (Ca) 6:49.80. 6, Toole (Ca) 6:51.52. 7, Burger (Ca) 7:01.78. 8, Cox (SP) 7:33.69. 9, Spencer (SP) 8:01.39. 10, M. Preecs (NP) 8:28.49. --, Titus (Ca) DQ.

200 Freestyle Relay -- 1, Greencastle (Murtagh, Collins, Gannaway, Ball), 1:46.84. 2, Cascade (Musson, Burger, Bragg, Eckols), 1:57.64. 3, Speedway (Lyon, Tawney , Runge, Wilson), 1:59.80. 4, North Putnam (Harper, Smith, Werner, Wilcox), 2:01.27. 5, South Putnam (Arnold, Sherwood, New, Lund), 2:02.84.

100 Backstroke -- 1, Murtagh (G) 1:00.95*. 2, Collins (G) 1:07.38. 3, English (Ca) 1:10.97. 4, Marvel (Ca) 1:18.18. 5, Smith (NP) 1:19.56. 6, Dory (G) 1:20.14. 7, New (SP) 1:22.27. 8, Handy (G) x1:29.40. 9, McKean (SP) 1:29.85. 10, Greerson (NP) 1:33.56. 11, Lasiter (NP) 1:38.73. 12, Keutzer (Ca) 1:40.52.

100 Breaststroke -- 1, Weatherman (Ca) 1:17.59. 2, Lyon (Spw) 1:18.30. 3, Gannaway (G) 1:18.69. 4, York (SP) 1:24.17. 5, Berling (Ca) 1:24.41. 6, Werner (NP) 1:29.15. 7, Hedge (G) 1:30.50. 8, Warren (SP) 1:34.01. 9, Michael (G) 1:34.45. 10, Novak (NP) 1:35.14. 11, Asher (SP) 1:35.28. 12, Rembold (Ca) 1:37.78. 13, Moore (G) x1:40.48. 14, Smith (NP) 2:00.00.

400 Freestyle Relay -- 1, Greencastle (Aring, Culler, Bittles, Terry), 4:15.01. 2, Cascade (Huelsmann, Toole, Berling, Eckols), 4:23.56. 3, South Putnam (Cox, Vance, Arnold, Lund), 4:29.47. 4, Speedway (Wilson, Tawney , Runge, Lyon), 4:35.08. 5, North Putnam (Greerson, Johnson, Novak, Scott), 5:16.99.

Boys' Results

Greencastle 386, South Putnam 226, Speedway 216,

North Putnam 183, Cascade 153

200 Medley Relay -- 1, Greencastle (Crimmins, Payne, Elkins, Smith), 1:41.84*. 2, Speedway (Noblet, Lamm, Welch, Trackwell), 1:54.40. 3, North Putnam (Ban, Taggart, Werner, Zurawski), 1:57.53. 4, South Putnam (Grundlock, Gould, Huck, Ashcraft), 1:58.07. 5, Cascade (Ferguson, Williams, Marsh, Cecil), 1:59.05.

200 Freestyle -- 1, Stevens (G) 1:47.05*. 2, Woodall (G) 1:58.73. 3, Smiley (SP) 2:03.40. 4, Lamm (Spw) 2:06.60. 5, Smith (NP) 2:11.29. 6, Kelly (SP) 2:17.32. 7, Albright (SP) 2:17.52. 8, Whitman (SP) x2:19.19. 9, Neidlingerm (Spw) 2:19.99. 10, Taggart (NP) 2:21.28. 11, Man (Spw) 2:23.81. 12, Smedley (Ca) 2:36.54. 13, Zahn (Ca) 2:36.58. 14, Arnold (SP) x2:50.87. 15, Blinn (Ca) 3:18.75.

200 IM -- 1, Welch (Spw) 2:15.89. 2, Chiarella (G) 2:19.80. 3, Elkins (G) 2:20.77. 4, Ball (G) 2:28.18. 5, Grundlock (SP) 2:33.82. 6, Gould (SP) 2:37.83. 7, Zurawski (NP) 2:38.04. 8, Werner (NP) 2:46.87. 9, Williams (Ca) 2:53.96. 10, Sears (Spw) 2:58.03.

50 Freestyle -- 1, Crimmins (G) 22.47. 2, Guffey (G) 23.76. 3, Smith (G) 24.06. 4, Ban (NP) 24.56. 5, Taggart (NP) 25.27. 6, Pierce (G) x25.30. 7, Logan (NP) 25.52. 8, Noblet (Spw) 25.78. 9, Shorter (NP) x25.83. 10, Ashcraft (SP) 25.84. 11, Vickrey (SP) 26.56. 12, Purvis (Ca) 26.92. 13, Runge (Spw) 27.78. 14, Veach (Spw) 28.16. 15, Paul (NP) x28.60. 16, Cecil (Ca) 28.74. 17, Gun (G) x29.52. 18, Bender (Ca) 29.64. 19, Phillips (G) x30.10. 20, Archer (Ca) x30.23. 21, Swineheart (Ca) x30.28. 22, Wilson (G) x31.53. 23, Watts (Spw) x32.49. 24, Gipson (Ca) x33.34. 25, Lockhart (Spw) x33.57. 26, Stoutenar (Ca) x34.75. 27, Lee (G) x35.06. 28, Kunapornsujarit (SP) 35.20. 29, Brunner (G) x35.27.

Diving -- 1, Marsh (Ca) 174.10. 2, Gould (SP) 148.05. 3, Buchanan (G) 144.05. 4, Butts (SP) 130.85. 5, Trackwell (Spw) 111.40.

100 Butterfly -- 1, Elkins (G) 57.32. 2, Welch (Spw) 1:01.37. 3, Ball (G) 1:03.25. 4, Huck (SP) 1:13.31. 5, Watson (G) 1:14.58. 6, Higginbotham (Spw) 1:16.16. 7, James (NP) 1:19.85. 8, Bender (Ca) 1:19.94.

100 Freestyle -- 1, Guffey (G) 52.55. 2, Marsh (Ca) 54.28. 3, Payne (G) 54.89. 4, Smiley (SP) 55.81. 5, Smith (G) 55.82. 6, Taggart (NP) 56.42. 7, Noblet (Spw) 56.54. 8, Purvis (Ca) 59.38. 9, Tiffany (Spw) 1:00.45. 10, Vickrey (SP) 1:00.87. 11, Logan (NP) 1:01.27. 12, Werner (NP) 1:01.39. 13, Taggart (NP) x1:03.05. 14, Neidlinger (Spw) 1:03.49. 15, Veach (Spw) x1:05.34. 16, Cecil (Ca) 1:07.56. 17, Rivera (Ca) x1:08.99. 18, Wilson (G) x1:15.82. 19, Marlott (Spw) x1:15.97. 20, Lee (G) x1:16.66. 21, Watts (Spw) x1:17.04. 22, Lockhart (Spw) x1:17.22. 23, Brunner (G) x1:23.04. 24, Kunapornsujarit (SP) 1:23.79.

500 Freestyle -- 1, Stevens (G) 4:56.21*. 2, Woodall (G) 5:28.20. 3, Ban (NP) 5:56.24. 4, Trackwell (Spw) 6:01.54. 5, Albright (SP) 6:02.96. 6, Kass (G) 6:10.02. 7, Pierce (G) x6:18.77. 8, Kelly (SP) 6:27.19. 9, Whitman (SP) 6:28.96. 10, Man (Spw) 6:54.81. 11, Smedley (Ca) 7:01.11. 12, Zahn (Ca) 7:21.42. 13, Sears (Spw) 7:37.92.

200 Freestyle Relay -- 1, Greencastle (Guffey, Smith, Elkins, Stevens), 1:33.52*. 2, Speedway (Trackwell, Lamm, Noblet, Welch), 1:41.12. 3, North Putnam (Ban, Logan, Werner, Taggart), 1:41.36. 4, South Putnam (Ashcraft, Huck, Vickrey, Smiley), 1:42.36. 5, Cascade (Ferguson, Purvis, Cecil, Marsh), 1:46.38.

100 Backstroke -- 1, Crimmins (G) 55.20*. 2, Ferguson (Ca) 1:08.25. 3, Grundlock (SP) 1:08.50. 4, Rivera (Ca) 1:15.10. 5, Smith (NP) 1:15.45. 6, Tiffany (Spw) 1:16.31. 7, Paul (NP) 1:18.92. 8, Gipson (Ca) 1:30.78. 9, Halfman (Ca) x1:34.72. 10, Marlott (Spw) 1:36.44. 11, Phillips (G) 1:40.61. 12, Arnold (SP) 1:53.61.

100 Breaststroke -- 1, Payne (G) 1:05.50. 2, Chiarella (G) 1:10.30. 3, Lamm (Spw) 1:10.52. 4, Gould (SP) 1:12.98. 5, Kass (G) 1:13.26. 6, Zurawski (NP) 1:13.53. 7, Watson (G) x1:14.39. 8, Williams (Ca) 1:16.68. 9, Higginbotham (Spw) 1:17.48. 10, Gould (SP) 1:19.63. 11, Runge (Spw) 1:21.47. 12, Archer (Ca) 1:27.17. 13, Stoutenar (Ca) 1:31.19. 14, Fiege (Spw) x1:31.41. --, Gun (G) DQ.

400 Freestyle Relay -- 1, Greencastle (Stevens, Guffey, Chiarella, Crimmins), 3:25.98*. 2, South Putnam (Ashcraft, Albright, Vickrey, Smiley), 3:54.43. 3, Speedway (Neidlinger, Tiffany, Higginbotham, Runge), 4:05.94. 4, North Putnam (James, Taggart, Paul, Smith), 4:12.74. 5, Cascade (Purvis, Zahn, Bender, Ferguson), 4:17.97.

*--Meet record

†--First-place tie.

x--Exhibition.