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Tiger Sharks take bite out of Eagles
GREENCASTLE -- The Greencastle boys swim team captured all 12 events Thursday to defeat South Putnam 134-51 on the road.
For Greencastle, Cody Watson, Luke Smith, Walter Chiarella and Jesse Elkins all captured two individual wins each on the night. The meet marked the second time in three days the Tiger Sharks were in the water, and head coach Luke Beasley noted, despite being fatigued, the team raced and raced hard.
"The thing that we talk about all the time is competing and racing, especially in duel meets, because a lot of our team isn't feeling too fresh right now and physically where they want to be," Beasley said. "But, you know, fatigue can change performance, but it shouldn't change effort, and I thought tonight we saw a good example of it.
"I thought our kids were excited about the opportunity to race and they embraced it. They didn't care whether they were competing for first, second or fifth place, you saw they wanted it," he said.
South Putnam head coach Emily Coers also commented how her team had reduced their times from Tuesday and showed more improvement.
"I think we had a good meet," she said. "We dropped times from Tuesday for the most part, but we're a small team with a lot of new swimmers, so I think any time you can improve is a positive. This is only their second meet, so they have to focus in practice and they know what they need to work on. I'm looking forward to having all next week to just practice with no meets. I think that will be good."
In the diving event, Greencastle's Matt Sims and South Putnam's Sam Gould duked it out on the board, putting together some impressive dives. However, it was Sims (194.90) edging Gould (194.5) to get the win.
The 500-yard freestyle was a tight race early with Watson eventually inching away from teammate Joey Kass to win with a time of 6:19.31. Kass recorded time of 6:21.20, while South Putnam's Andrew Whitman placed third with a time of 6:38.85.
In addition to the 500 free win, Watson tied with teammate Smith in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:17.09. Beasley was impressed with Watson on the night and the effort he put in before the season.
"I don't think Cody's ever won two events in a meet, maybe as part of relays, but he won two individuals tonight," he said. "He actually tied with Luke Smith, which is always kind of a funny thing when that happens. Cody -- I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've put him in the 500 free.
"He's done such a good job coming in the fall, in the off-season and worked so hard. He's a good leader for us in practice. It was a good meet for Cody and I'm proud of him and now he just needs to keep working and produce for us at the sectional meet. That's what we're always thinking about," Beasley added.
Beasley was also pleased with the performance of some other swimmers and liked the fact his team got a win before entering a stretch of tough meets next week.
"We had several swimmers who had some season best times. Jesse Elkins, I think, swam a nice meet in the 50-free and the 100-butterfly. Luke Smith did an excellent job in the 200-free and is already approaching his personal best. There's a lot to look back on this meet and be excited about," he said.
For Coers, her team will have all next week off and she plans on having them in the pool. When asked about the week layoff and if it was conducive to a young team's progress, she said she was confident it is.
"I think so, because they can have some time to work on what they feel like they need to improve on and what I think they feel they need to improve on. It's always good to have some time to practice after the first two meets," she commented.
With her Eagles being a young squad, Coers was proud of their performance and the performance of her veteran swimmers.
"I think the swimmers that I knew would perform well performed well. I'm proud of my new swimmers because they get out there at try their best and they're improving. We had a couple of kids who didn't even know how to swim and they're competing in a high school varsity meet, so I think that, for the most part, we're doing all right," she said.
Greencastle will host Bloomington North at 6 p.m., while South Putnam will travel to Fountain Central Dec. 12 at 10 a.m.
At South Putnam
Boys Swimming
Greencastle 134, South Putnam 51
Individual Results
200 Medley Relay -- 1. GHS (Asbell, Chiarella, Elkins, Vandiver) 1:56.08, 2. GHS (Ball, Kass, Watson, Pierce) 2:00.26, 3. SP (Grundlock, S. Gould, Lund, Williams) 2:05.00, 4. GHS (Sims, Timm, Lee, Kastigar) 2:26.20, 5. SP (Arnold, Evens, McCammack, Dotson) 2:40.71
200 -- 1. Smith (GHS) 2:06.39, 2. Kelly (SP) 2:15.32, 3. Whitman (SP) 2:18.87,4. Asbell (GHS) 2:21.17, 5. Kass (GHS) 2:23.15
200 IM -- 1. Chiarella (GHS) 1:07.32, 2. Ball (GHS) 1:11.93, 3. Grundlock (SP) 1:12.61, 4. Pierce (GHS) 1:20.36, 5. McCammack (SP) 1:26.91
50 -- 1. Elkins (GHS) 24.44, 2. Vandiver (GHS) 27.48, 3. Williams (SP) 31.01, 4. Timm (GHS) 32.54, 5. Evens (SP) 34.73, 6. Vanichnatee (SP) 41.73
Diving -- 1. Sims (GHS) 194.90, 2. S. Gould (SP) 194.5, 3. Stodghill (GHS) 138.30, 4. Butts (SP) 133.70, 5. Bruner (GHS) 94.30
100 Butterfly -- 1. Elkins (GHS) 58.56, 2. Pierce (GHS) 1:16.27, 3. Asbell (GHS) 1:16.80, 4. Lund (SP) 1:20.33
100 -- 1. Ball (GHS) 59.19, 2. Bell (GHS) 1:08.15, 3. Kastigar (GHS) 1:11.12, 4. Williams (SP) 1:14.23, 5. Arnold (SP) 1:14.87, 6. Dotson (SP) 1:15.91
500 -- 1. Watson (GHS) 6:19.31, 2. Kass (GHS) 6:21.20, 3. Whitman (SP) 6:38.85, 4. Vandiver (GHS) 6:39.10, 5. Kelly (SP) 6:46.22
200 Free R -- 1. GHS (Smith, Pierce, Lee, Watson) 1:94.44, 2. GHS (Chiarella, Ball, Vandiver, Kass) 1:50.39, 3. SP (Grundlock, McCammack, Williams, Lund) 1:54.88, 4. GHS (Stodghill, Eubank, Kastigar, Bell) 2:12.14, 5. SP (Arnold, Vanichnatee, Dotson, Shaw) 2:32.71
100 -- 1. Chiarella (GHS) 1:07.97, 2. Grundlock (SP) 1:11.24, 3. Simms (GHS) 1:19.96, 4. Evens (SP) 1:30.59, 5. Lee (GHS) 1:35.39
100 Breaststroke -- 1. Smith (GHS) 1:17.09, 2. Watson (GHS) 1:17.09, 3. S. Gould (SP) 1:19.55, 4. McCammack (SP) 1:31.54, 5. Timm (GHS) 1:37.49
400 Free R -- 1. GHS (Elkins, Bell, Asbell, Smith) 4:10.39, 2. SP (Kelly, Whitman, Evens, Lund) 4:46.44, 3. SP (Arnold, Vanichnatee, Shaw, Dotson) 6:02.50, GHS (Timm, Kastigar, Eubank, Phillips) DQ
Next game -- Greencastle will host Bloomington North at 6 p.m., while South Putnam will travel to Fountain Central Dec. 12 at 10 a.m.