Tiger Sharks grab five top seeds in sectional finale at Crawfordsville

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Heading into Saturday's Crawfordsville Boys' Swimming Sectional Finals, the Greencastle boys' swim team appears to be in good position to repeat as sectional champion. In Thursday night's preliminaries, the Tiger Sharks placed their swimmers in the top seeds of five of the 11 swimming events.

The 200 medley relay and 200 free relay each grabbed top seeds. Additionally, Jesse Elkins, Luke Crimmins and Ryan Payne each has the No. 1 seed in an individual event.

North Putnam freshman Jeremy Ban swims the 500 freestyle at Thursday night's sectional preliminaries at Crawfordsville. Ban finished 14th in the 500 and 16th in the 200 freestyle.

In the medley relay, the GHS team of Adam Clute, Payne, Elkins and Luke Smith swam a 1:44.56, nearly five seconds better than second-place Crawfordsville.

Elkins swam a 57.21 in the 100 butterfly, cutting nearly four seconds off his seed time. Miles Salman joins Elkins as the second seed.

In the 200 free relay, Salman, Payne, Jay Guffey and Austin Woodall swam a 1:35.22 for the top seed.

The Sharks' Luke Crimmins had a 56.88 in the 100 backstroke. The Sharks also placed Elkins and Clute in the top six.

Payne swam a 1:04.46 in the 100 breaststroke, claiming the top seed.

The Tiger Sharks have three of the six finalists in the 50 free with Crimmins, Guffey, and Smith.

Elsewhere, the Tiger Cubs placed Nick Stevens and Woodall in the championships of the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Salman qualified fourth in the 200 IM. Jay Guffey is the No. 5 seed in the 100 free.

All told, GHS has 18 entrants in championship races and six in consolation races.

South Putnam has one relay in a championship heat with the 400 free relay team of Loren Ashcraft, Clark Becker, Darrick Grundlock and Chris Smiley. The Eagles qualified sixth with a 3:47.04.

Additionally, South has six entries in consolation heats.

For North Putnam, senior Patrick Byrd was the highlight of the night, as he qualified third in the 100 butterfly with a 1:00.53.

The Cougars have seven entries in consolation heats.

Swimmers who qualified in the top 12 will return to Crawfordsville at 1 p.m. Saturday for the sectional consolation and championship finals. Diving preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

At Crawfordsville

IHSAA Swim Sectional Preliminaries

Individual Results (Local school only)

200 Medley Relay -- 1. Greencastle (Clute, Payne, Elkins, Smith) 1:44.56, 2. Crawfordsville 1:49.02, 3. Seeger 1:51.64, 4. North Montgomery 1:51.64, 5. Southmont 1:52.38, 6. Western Boone 1:52.74.

Consolation -- 7. South Vermillion 1:54.06, 8. North Putnam (Taggart, Zurawski, Byrd, K. Smith) 1:55.98, 9. Fountain Central 1:57.57, 10. South Putnam (Grundlock, Gould, Huck, McKinney) 2:03.56, 11. North Vermillion 2:19.22.

200 Freestyle -- 1. Kinslow WB 1:50.93, 2. Stevens Gr 1:51.31, 3. Spencer NM 1:51.59, 4. Woodall Gr 1:54.63, 5. Sturm Cr 1:58.85, 6. Clauser SM 1:59.88.

Consolation -- 7. Grivas Gr 2:00.52, 8. Hatch SM 2:01.43, 9. Junker SV 2:03.02, 10. Taggart NP 2:04.03, 11. Coakes NM 2:04.34, 12. Hegg Se 2:05.68.

DNQ -- 16. Ban NP 2:11.66, 24. Kelly SP 2:18.21, 25. Whitman SP 2:19.94, 30. S. Arnold SP 2:55.93.

200 IM -- 1. Winn-Turner SM 2:07.25, 2. Salman Gr 2:11.44, 3. Amstutz SM 2:15.32, 4. McCoy WB 2:15.68, 5. Miller NM 2:17.72, 6. Lowe FC 2:20.76.

Consolation -- 7. Chiarella Gr 2:22.13, 8. Huckstep SM 2:23.05, 9. Richmond Cr 2:24.26, 10. Evans Cr 2:26.53, 11. Moody WB 2:26.87, 12. Swift NM 2:27.48.

DNQ -- 14. Grundlock SP 2:30.62, 15. Watson Gr 2:38.85, 17. Werner NP 2:44.23, 20. Gould SP 2:51.55.

50 Freestyle -- 1. Schroeder Se 22.36, 2. Crimmins Gr 22.83, 3. Guffey Gr 23.61, 4. Abriani SV 23.66, 5. Lewis SM 23.79, 6. Smith Gr 23.98.

Consolation -- 7. Pike WB 24.00, 8. Becker SP 24.02, 9. Ollier FC 24.06, 10. Hatcher SM 24.21, 11. Smiley SP 24.40, 12. K. Smith NP 24.42.

DNQ -- 16. Ashcraft SP 24.91.

100 Butterfly -- 1. Elkins Gr 57.21, 2. Salman Gr 1:00.18, 3. Byrd NP 1:00.53, 4. Amstutz NM 1:00.62, 5. Wheeler SM 1:00.65, 6. Tarter Cr 1:01.15.

Consolation -- 7. Ekdahl SV 1:01.99, 8. Mellish NM 1:03.84, 9. Clark WB 1:04.09, 10. Gates NM 1:06.86, 11. Moody WB 1:08.16, 12. Sills Cr 1:08.61.

DNQ -- 14. Huck SP 1:09.54, 16. Russell SP 1:10.45.

100 Freestyle -- 1. Schroeder Se 49.72, 2. Spencer NM 50.26, 3. Smoll Cr 50.87, 4. Lewis SM 51.63, 5. Guffey Gr 52.19, 6. Abriani SV 53.08.

Consolation -- 7. Payne Gr 53.12, 8. Pike WB 53.58, 9. K. Smith NP 53.79, 10. Smiley SP 54.08, 11. Hatcher SM 54.15, 12. Clauser SM 54.59.

DNQ -- 15. Smith Gr 55.01, 19. Ashcraft SP 58.01, 26. McKinney SP 1:03.60, 27. Zuver NP 1:09.00.

500 Freestyle -- 1. Kinslow WB 4:59.32, 2. Winn-Turner SM 5:06.86, 3. Stevens Gr 5:12.95, 4. Woodall Gr 5:30.61, 5. Sturm Cr 5:29.84, 6. Wolf Cr 5:33.19.

Consolation -- 7. Hatch SM 5:34.90, 8. Grivas Gr 5:41.64, 9. Junker SV 5:49.11, 10. Olin NM 5:58.39, 11. Walker NM 6:00.69, 12. Key FC 6:03.01.

DNQ -- 14. Ban NP 6:07.03, 18. Whitman SP 6:23.74, 19. Kelly SP 6:24.86.

200 Freestyle Relay -- 1. Greencastle (Salman, Payne, Guffey, Woodall) 1:35.22, 2. Southmont 1:36.16, 3. Crawfordsville 1:39.04, 4. Western Boone 1:39.46, 5. North Montgomery 1:39.53, 6. Seeger 1:39.62.

Consolation -- 7. South Putnam (Ashcraft, McKinney, Smiley, Becker) 1:40.41, 8. North Putnam (Taggart, Werner, Ban, K. Smith) 1:42.07, 9. Fountain Central 1:43.60, 10. South Vermillion 1:47.92, 11. Attica 1:56.13.

100 Backstroke -- 1. Crimmins Gr 56.88, 2. Smoll Cr 58.04, 3. McCoy WB 59.16, 4. Mellish NM 1:00.97, 5. Elkins Gr 1:03.49, 6. Clute Gr 1:03.97.

Consolation -- 7. Hegg Se 1:04.48, 8. Coakes NM 1:04.52, 9. Richardson WB 1:04.89, 10. Grundlock SP 1:05.71, 11. Gibson SV 1:05.73, 12. Byrd NP 1:06.63.

DNQ -- 20. C. Smith NP 1:12.14, 25. R. Arnold SP 1:18.94, 28. Butts SP 1:29.32.

100 Breaststroke -- 1. Payne Gr 1:04.46, 2. Tarter Cr 1:05.74, 3. Miller NM 1:07.60, 4. Mohler WB 1:08.46, 5. Line SM 1:08.55, 6. Wolf Cr 1:10.16.

Consolation -- 7. Lowe FC 1:11.34, 8. J. Kass Gr 1:11.58, 9. Swift NM 1:12.42, 10. Emery SV 1:13.14, 11. Watson Gr 1:13.73, 12. Blanton Se 1:12.90.

DNQ -- 14. Zurawski NP 1:14.65, 15. Taggart NP 1:14.89, 23. Gould SP 1:21.90, 24. Alig SP 1:25.85.

400 Freestyle Relay -- 1. Southmont 3:23.55, 2. Greencastle (Woodall, Grivas, Guffey, Salman) 3:33.52, 3. Western Boone 3:39.71, 4. Crawfordsville 3:40.76, 5. North Montgomery 3:41.11, 6. South Putnam (Ashcraft, Becker, Grundlock, Smiley) 3:47.04.

Consolation -- 7. South Vermillion 3:48.23, 8. North Putnam (Zuver, C. Smith, Zurawski, Werner) 4:21.82, 9. Seeger 4:24.74, 10. Attica 4:42.50, 11. Fountain Central 4:51.56, 12. North Vermillion 4:58.84.

Next meet -- All swimmers qualifying for championship or consolation heats will return to Crawfordsville at 1 p.m. Saturday for the sectional finals. Diving preliminaries begin at 9 a.m.