Bretscher advances to final round

By DAN SHELTON

Sports Writer

After 36-years, Greencastle has finally advanced a male swimmer in not one, but two final round events at the IHSAA boys' state swim finals Friday at IUPUI.

Andrew Bretscher, a senior at Greencastle High School, saw his hard work and determination pay off in a just a few short hours.

Bretscher's first advancement came in the 50-yard freestyle, the event in which he set a GHS school record and Crawfordsville High School pool record last Saturday. He swam a 21.06, just 16-tenths more than his record seed time of 20.90, which was the fastest time going into Friday night's preliminary round.

With his 21.06 time, Bretscher will hold the second seed spot in today's final round of the 50 freestyle.

Bretscher clinched his second chance of winning a medal when he swam a 47.10 in the 100-yard freestyle, seeding him fifth for the finals.

"I'm not super happy with my times, but I'm not unhappy with them," Bretscher said. "I didn't have a lot of rest between those two events, but (Saturday) I will."

Bretscher was part of the Tiger Sharks 200-yard individual medley and 400-yard relay teams. Neither of the relay teams advanced to the finals for today.

With the prelims out of the way Bretscher's coach, and father, Paul Bretscher, believes that he will be ok.

"He swam well in the prelims and it's hard to do that," the elder Bretscher said. "The prelims are the scariest part of the meet."

This isn't the first time that Andrew has been in this situation. Last year, he made it into the consolation round and his father thinks that has helped him this year.

"Physically, he is at his best right now but the problem is the psychological part," the elder Bretscher said. "That was his problem last year and this year he wasn't as nervous.

"The real pressure is off of him right now and I think he will be able to sleep tonight," Bretscher added

Andrew said that he really does feel less pressure now that he is in the finals.

"I wanted to make out of the prelims and swim my best times in the finals and place," he said.

The senior swimmer will have his work cut out for him today, especially in the 100 freestyle. Bretscher will swimming against Peter Jameson who swam a time of 44.82, nearly breaking another state record. Jameson set a state record Friday in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37.02.

Knowing that he will have to go head-to-head with Jameson, Bretscher said that he is just going to swim as fast as he can and get a good time out of the race.

"Andrew is going to have one advantage over most of the other swimmers, he will be able to sleep in his own bed tonight," the elder Bretscher added.

The Tiger Sharks relay teams finished in 25th in the 400 relay with a time of 3:23.81 while finishing 26th in 200 IM with a time of 1:42.17.

Bretscher will take part in the Finals of IHSAA boys' state swim meet today, starting at 1 p.m.

At IUPUI

50 Freestyle -- 2. Bretscher (G) 21.06

100 Freestyle -- 5. Bretscher (G) 47.10

200 IM Relay -- 26. Greencastle 1:42.17

400 Freestyle Relay -- 25. Greencastle 3:23.81