Tiger Cubs' Guffey, Firebaugh and 400 free relay squad take aim at State

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Greencastle's Walter Chiarella, left, and Mitchell Ball celebrate as Jay Guffey finishes the last leg of the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Jesse Elkins, Ball, Chiarella and Guffey won the relay to advance to the state finals in a time of 3:19.86.

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Saturday was the finals of the boys swimming sectionals held at the Crawfordsville Aquatic Center. The Putnam County schools had a great showing. Not only did the three schools have several qualify Thursday night for either the consolations or the finals, but their performances on Saturday were impressive.

Both North Putnam and South Putnam came into not only Thursday but also Saturday and surprised several people. Greencastle also surprised some people by ending up doing as well as they did after a few discouragements on Thursday night, specifically getting their medley relay disqualified.

After everything Greencastle still fought back and ended up in second place overall.

South Montgomery won the sectional with a score of 257, Greencastle was a close second with 250, and Crawfordsville was not far behind with 244. South Putnam placed sixth overall with a score of 102, and North Putnam placed seventh with a score of 88. South Putnam's was only one point out of fifth and only seven points out of fourth.

South Putnam coach Emily Karas stated, "My pride for my team is overwhelming at this point. When I started here four years ago, this is what we were going for. This kind of showing, and I know that since we've accomplished it, it can only get better from here. This is a really tough sectional with three very good teams and for us to come in and compete with them and be on their level is such a source of pride for me because that is what I wanted when I came here, was to come in and be noticed and to be on top. And while we are not there yet, we are certainly getting there. And that is all part of the journey."

Coach Luke Beasley of Greencastle spoke very highly of his boys as well, stating, "I have never been more proud of a group than I am today. I think coming into today people didn't think we had a chance to pull this off, but both the boys and myself believed in themselves and the possibilities that existed today as far as moving up from their seeds, holding their seeds, having the mentality that no one was going to beat them in their heat. Didn't matter if it was consolations or finals. I am just so amazed at how high school kids handled the situation from Thursday night through today. It 's like someone punched them in the stomach and they just kept walking. "

The swimming portion of the finals started at 1 p.m. with the medley relay. South Putnam and North Putnam were both in the finals of the medley. South Putnam's team of Tayler Arnold, Jake Gould, Matthew Lund, and John McCammack placed fourth with the time of 1:51.69. North Putnam's relay of Joe Lehr, Jared James, Dane Gray and Jeremy Ban placed sixth with a time of 1:52.95.

In the 200 freestyle, North Putnam senior Jeremy Ban swam a 1:55.89, finishing in fifth place.

Greencastle's Walter Chiarella and Mitchell Ball placed second and third respectively in the 200 individual medley with times basically a second apart. Chiarella had a time of 2:05.25, and Ball's time was 2:06.17.

Next up was the 50 freestyle. Going into the prelims, Greencastle's Jay Guffey had a seed time matching the state cut of 21.93. In the finals, Guffey beat that state cut time by going 21.69. This means that even if Guffey had not gotten first, he would still be advancing to the state meet. Greencastle's other finalist in the 50 was freshmen Nash Firebaugh, who placed second behind Guffey with a time of 22.93.

After the diving break, Greencastle had two boys in the finals of the butterfly: Firebaugh and Ball. Firebaugh placed first with a time of 53.07, and Ball placed with a time of 55.04. By placing first, freshman Firebaugh advances to join teammate Guffey at the state finals.

In the 100 freestyle, Guffey once again placed first and beat the state cut time advancing to the state meet in a second event with a time of 48.16. Fellow senior Jesse Elkins placed third in the 100 Free with at time of 51.29.

The finals of the 500 freestyle had one county swimmer. Jeremy Ban from North Putnam ended up placing third with a time of 5:25.36.

North Putnam coach Wesley Richardson said, "Jeremy has really progressed throughout the years and I am really happy with how his senior year ended up. I was really proud of him and his accomplishments throughout the yeas. Congratulations to Jeremy on a job well done."

The 200 freestyle relays for the county either held their position or moved up, with all of them improving their qualifying times from Thursday night. Greencastle's relay of Firebaugh, Alex Asbell, Joey Kass and Ball placed fourth overall with a time of 1:35.62. South Putnam's relay team of Arnold, Tyler Williams, Lund and McCammack placed sixth and improved their time to 1:41.34. North Putnam, although not in the finals, also improved its time. The qualifying time was 1:53.05 and finished with the time of 1:49.72.

The 100 backstroke was stacked with county swimmers throughout the consolations and finals. Elkins of Greencastle finished second with at time of 57.37, Arnold of South Putnam finished in fifth with a time of 1:00.46, and Gray of North Putnam finished sixth with a time of 1:01.82. Greencastle and North Putnam had two each in the consolations, finishing seventh, eighth, 11th and 12th.

In the 100 breaststroke, Chiarella of Greencastle placed second with a time of 1:03.30, and Watson, also of Greencastle, placed fifth with a time of 1:08.37. Jake Gould of South Putnam was in the finals and finished in sixth with a time of 1:09.88. Sam Gould of South Putnam placed second in the consolations.

Coach Karas said, "Four out of the eight tonight had personal bests: all three relays, Sam in diving and in Breaststroke, and then Tayler in the 100 backstroke. I am extremely proud of the guys and the way they performed today. Even the ones that didn't get season bests, they worked hard in the water. My team has a lot of heart and I am proud of them. Coming out here and competing the way that they have. And it certainly makes me look forward to next year."

To finish up the day, all three county schools swam the 400 freestyle relay -- Greencastle and North Putnam in the finals and South Putnam in the consolations.

Greencastle's relay of Elkins, Ball, Chiarella and Guffey won, advancing them to the state meet with a time of 3:19.86.

"All the boys from that medley will still get to swim at state. Which is awesome. Every once in a while you are going to get a curve ball thrown to you and it is how you respond to it. I thought they all responded like absolute champions," Beasley said.

"Jay split a 47.2 in the last relay. He is not tapered yet and we are saving him for state. He has better days ahead. Nash will be in the fly, but the other boys on that relay will be fresh for the day. Walter won't be coming off of breaststroke, Jesse won't be coming off of back. They will be fresh and ready to compete," he added.

North Putnam's relay of Colton Smith, James, Gray and Ban finished fourth with a time of 3:35.05.

"We had our 200 medley record broken and our 400 freestyle relay broken, so the boys did really well on that. Overall the boys had a great season and I wish them the best next year and the years to come as well. I am proud of them," said Richardson.

South Putnam's final relay of Williams, Lund, Kyle Chaney, and McCammack finished with a time of 3:55.29. This time and place not only moved them up a spot from Thursday night, but also their time improved by two seconds.

All of our county swimmers had an outstanding performance at the 2011 sectional. Divers, Sam Gould and Sims will be diving at Zionsville High School at the Diving Regional tonight at 6 p.m. State competitors will be swimming starting Friday night at 6 p.m. and those who advance will compete starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Any divers that advance from the Regional will dive Saturday starting at 9 a.m.

At Crawfordsville High School

IHSAA Boys' Swimming Sectional

Finals

Southmont 257, Greencastle 250, Crawfordsville 244, Western Boone 109, North Montgomery 103, South Putnam 102, North Putnam 88, Seeger 71, Fountain Central 62, South Vermillion 59, North Vermillion 22, Attica 16

200 Medley Relay -- 1. Southmont 1:41.32, 2. Crawfordsville 1:42.88, 3. North Montgomery 1:47.83, 4. South Putnam (Arnold, J. Gould, Lund, McCammack) 1:51.96, 5. Seeger 1:52.31, 6. North Putnam (Lehr, James, Gray, Ban) 1:52.95. Consolation: 7. Western Boone 1:57.48, 8. South Vermillion 2:05.89, 9. Fountain Central 2:08.13, 10. North Vermillion 2:08.62, 11. Attica 2:13.14.

200 Freestyle -- 1. Furr (C) 1:46.60, 2. Servies (C) 1:53.36, 3. Clauser (Sm) 1:53.43, 4. Johnson (Sm) 1:55.49, 5. Ban (NP) 1:55.89, 6. Hegg (Se) 2:02.59. Consolation: 7. Yocum (SV) 1:59.00, 8. Asbell (G) 2:01.07, 9. Kouns (WB) 2:02.22, 10. Gates (NM) 2:04.35, 11. Cook (WB) 2:04.43, 12. Smith (NP) 2:05.35.

200 IM -- 1. Dieruf (C) 2:01.96, 2. Chiarella (G) 2:05.25, 3. Ball (G) 2:06.17, 4. Huckstep (Sm) 2:08.43, 5. Hobson (C) 2:10.42, 6. Armbruster (Sm) 2:11.18. Consolation: 7. Gray (NP) 2:17.58, 8. Watson (G) 2:18.44, 9. McCormick (Sm) 2:18.54, 10. Gould (SP) 2:24.13, 11. Thompson (C) 2:27.80, -- Corwin (WB) DQ.

50 Freestyle -- 1. Guffey (G) 21.69, 2. Firebaugh (G) 22.93, 3. Ford (WB) 23.20, 4. Jarvis (Sm) 23.32, 5. Jones (FC) 23.68, 6. Lewis (Sm) 24.02. Consolation: 7. Bohlander (NM) 23.51, 8. Ewoldt (Sm) 23.96, 9. Ridge (C) 24.00, 10. Hitchcock (Se) 24.42, 11. Riley (NM) 24.53, 12. Freeland (A) 25.49.

Diving -- 1. Catterson (SV) 355.65, 2. S. Gould (SP) 304.75, 3. Sims (G) 280.65, 4. Cottongim (WB) 262.70, 5. Flanary (NV) 230.50, 6. Gaebel (SV) 229.35, 7. Spivey (A) 203.10, 8. Phelps (C) 194.35, 9. Butts (SP) 188.00, 10. Morse (C) 183.20, 11. Neumann (SP) 177.00, -- King (C) DQ.

100 Butterfly -- 1. Firebaugh (G) 53.07, 2. Wheeler (Sm) 54.47, 3. Ball (G) 55.04, 4. Ford (WB) 56.29, 5. Gates (NM) 56.30, 6. Fairfield (C) 57.25. Consolation: 7. Nannet (NM) 59.67, 8. Boone (WB) 1:01.64, 9. Philpott (Sm) 1:03.62, 10. Zadai (Sm) 1:04.10, 11. Maynor (C) 1:04.55, 12. Lund (SP) 1:06.38.

100 Freestyle -- 1. Guffey (G) 48.16, 2. Clauser (Sm) 49.97, 3. Elkins (G) 51.29, 4. Johnson (Sm) 51.59, 5. Jones (FC) 53.46. Consolation: 7. Yocum (SV) 52.85, 8. Arnold (SP) 53.99, 9. Bohlander (NM) 54.05, 10. Cook (WB) 55.99, 11. Borders (WB) 56.78, 12. Buker (FC) 58.04.

500 Freestyle -- 1. Servies (C) 5:06.67, 2. Ridge (C) 5:12.76, 3. Ban (NP) 5:25.36, 4. Jarvis (Sm) 5:26.05, 5. Corwin (WB) 5:35.74, 6. Armbruster (Sm) 5:39.48. Consolation: 7. Kass (G) 5:38.34, 8. Asbell (G) 5:39.07, 9. Harms (G) 5:42.82, 10. Ewoldt (Sm) 5:46.15, 11. Copeland (NM) 5:47.34, 12. Kouns (WB) 5:49.11.

200 Freestyle Relay -- 1. Southmont 1:32.22, 2. Crawfordsville 1:32.48, 3. North Montgomery 1:34.85, 4. Greencastle (Firebaugh, Asbell, Kass, Ball) 1:35.62, 5. Fountain Central 1:39.91, 6. South Putnam (Arnold, Williams, Lund, McCammack) 1:41.34. Consolation: 7. Western Boone 1:40.94, 8. South Vermillion 1:42.53, 9. Seeger 1:48.49, 10. North Putnam (Smith, Volland, Troyer, Kaufman) 1:49.72, 11. Attica 1:51.12.

100 Backstroke -- 1. Dieruf (C) 54.49, 2. Elkins (G) 57.37, 3. Lewis (Sm) 58.36, 4. Hegg (Se) 59.67, 5. Arnold (SP) 1:00.46, 6. Gray (NP) 1:01.82. Consolation: 7. Gardner (G) 1:02.47, 8. Kastigar (G) 1:03.16, 9. Riley (NM) 1:05.41, 10. Maynor (C) 1:06.09, 11. Lehr (NP) 1:06.37, 12. Smith (NP) 1:08.36.

100 Breaststroke -- 1. Furr (C) 1:01.76, 2. Chiarella (G) 1:03.30, 3. Fairfield (C) 1:04.17, 4. Huckstep (Sm) 1:05.64, 5. Watson (G) 1:08.37, 6. J. Gould (SP) 1:09.88. Consolation: 7. Nannet (NM) 1:08.79, 8. S. Gould (SP) 1:08.76, 9. McCormick (Sm) 1:11.04, 10. Philpott (Sm) 1:11.32, 11. Smith (WB) 1:11.42, 12. Switzer (NM) 1:11.61.

400 Freestyle Relay -- 1. Greencastle (Elkins, Ball, Chiarella, Guffey) 3:19.86, 2. Crawfordsville 3:21.45, 3. Southmont 3:31.51, 4. North Putnam (Smith, James, Gray, Ban) 3:35.05, 5. Seeger 3:40.53, 6. Western Boone 3:42.85. Consolation: 7. Fountain Central 3:48.93, 8. South Putnam (Williams, Lund, Chaney, McCammack) 3:55.29, 9. North Montgomery 3:55.86, 10. North Vermillion 4:29.03.

--State cut time.