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South Putnam wins first conference swimming double at WIC Swim Meet
Updated 1-22-24
TRAFALGAR – South Putnam’s swimming and diving teams had alternated winning WIC titles in the past three seasons.
Saturday, the Eagles didn’t need to flip-flop because both teams found their way on top of the podium at Indian Creek.
South Putnam claimed both conference titles at the WIC Swimming and Diving Championships, a first for the school, as the boys won with a commanding 500 points while the girls unseated Edgewood with a 481.5-468.5 win; the Eagles combined to win 16 of the 24 events contested.
The Mustangs were runners-up in both team races with the boys scoring 330 points, just holding off North Putnam in third place on 320 points.
The Cougars were fourth in the girls’ team standings on 209 points behind West Vigo on 251 points. Greencastle finished fourth in the boys’ meet on 282 points and fifth in the girls’ standings on 188.5 points.
South Putnam won five of the six relays and 11 individual events with Edgewood winning the remaining five events in the pool and Indian Creek winning both diving titles on Wednesday.
“I have been coaching for a decade now and this was the first time I’ve ever been in the pool,” South Putnam head coach Anna Kendall noted, having joined the team along with assistant coach Heath Pruitt in the post-title celebrations. “When we had scored out the girls’ meet, we were behind Edgewood but it was still a very close meet.
“On paper, we weren’t stronger than them but we had girls move up in every event. That’s what it takes and it took girls like Bella Fanning moving up in the 100 breaststroke, like Addi Gibson in the 100 back and others throughout the day. It was a great day all around for the girls.
“On the guys’ side, we talked a lot about energy coming into today’s meet,” Kendall added. “Even though we were favored to win the meet, we wanted them to bring the kind of energy into the meet that is conducive to big swims and they did that really well today.
“The whole team brought it today and they were rewarded for doing so. I’m so proud of these kids, what they’ve accomplished so far and what’s still to come this year.”
Keaton Chew led the Eagle boys with four wins on Saturday, claiming the 50 (23.65) and 100 free (52.54) races while anchoring the 200 medley relay (1:45.41) with Wyatt Kendall, Brent Cunningham and Jonah Taylor while leading off the 400 free relay (3:41.62) with Kendall, Luke Hutcheson and Logan Johnson.
Johnson won the 200 free (1:58.18), Taylor won the 100 fly (58.81) and Cunningham won the 100 breaststroke (1:03.68) with the trio joining Hutcheson to win the 200 free relay (1:38.64).
Kallie Pastore and Elise Kendall picked up four wins in the girls’ meet, Pastore winning the 200 IM (2:20.21) and 100 breaststroke (1:08.48) and Kendall winning the 50 (26.59) and 100 free (58.48) individually while being joined by Megan Bumgardner and Bella Fanning to win the 200 medley relay (1:58.99) and later Bumgardner and Josey Helton to win the 400 free relay (3:55.94), setting a new school record in the process. Helton won the 500 free (6:13.20) while Bumgardner won the 100 back (1:06.70) to round out the Eagle wins.
North Putnam had six runner-up finishes between its two squads and two third-place finishes with Barbi Fuchs finishing second in the 100 free (59.22) and diving (375.90), beating the school’s 11-drive record by more than 100 points.
Fuchs was also part of the runner-up 200 medley relay (2:09.26) with Addie Jones, Graci Hollis and Tayler Sillery, as well as the 200 free relay (1:53.44) along with Jones, Hollis and Addison Everman. Jones also finished second in the 100 back (1:11.37) while Beckett Braeger, Kolten Hoops, Brayden Chew and Michael Ali finished second in the 200 free relay (1:40.38) in the boys’ meet.
Third-place finishes included Braeger in the 100 fly (1:03.51), Chew, Braeger, Ali and Conner Stiff in the 200 medley relay (1:53.71) and Braeger, Brayton Hecht, James Thomas and Trentin Asher in the 400 free relay (3:58.05).
“We had a lot of PRs today, which I’m really proud of the kids for,” North Putnam head coach Wes Richardson said. “At one time, we were three points behind South Putnam and everybody did excellent.
“I’m proud of all the boys and girls today. Barbi broke our diving record by 115 points over the previous total, so that says a lot about her work this year. I’m looking forward to next year’s meet because we have a lot of talented kids returning and a lot of talented kids coming up from the middle school as well.
“Graci has done wonders for us this year as our sole senior,” Richardson added. “She didn’t get to participate much last year but she has really pulled through this year and I’m proud of her.
“Everyone had a good day and did well. Everyone stood out because of the number of high PRs compared to the last couple of meets.”
Zane Huber had a pair of second-place finishes for Greencastle, individually finishing second in the 100 free (54.42) and later was joined by Charlie Menzel, Landon Miller and Sam Hanlon to finish as runner-up in the 400 free relay (3:56.43). Clay Glessner added a second-place finish in diving (241.35).
Huber added a third-place finish in the 200 IM (2:19.78) and Miller finished third in the 500 free (5:45.75) while Meredith Ball tied for third in the 50 free (27.72) with Edgewood’s Zhenia Venegas and was later joined by Taylor Ball, Kylie Flint and Avery Capps to finish third in the 400 free relay (4:31.44).
“We love this meet and love coming to (Indian Creek) because it’s an opportunity to swim fast,” Greencastle head coach Kent Menzel said. “Our kids love to prepare, to think about and plan for what they’re going to do and the performances today are the proof of the quality of preparation the kids did.
“We were swimming lifetime bests right and left all day and the relays performed wonderfully and with precision. Our first year swimmers, Taylor and Ella (Tischer) were great; moving up the ladder, Landon was on fire today, as were Sam and Nolan (Stonebreaker).
“I was so proud of our seniors today, who set the bar so much higher for themselves based on the performances that they had today,” Menzel added. “I was happy to see Charlie come back into his speed, Zane was out of this world, Kylie and Meredith were incredible and Avery had some stunning swims today.
“Add to that Clay’s extraordinary diving performance on Wednesday and I was very pleased with the Sharks. They performed well above their previous efforts, did what we asked of them today and, as a team, we take what we can get and we did perform well.
“I was happy to see our 400 free relay teams perform strong at the end of the meet. We’re looking forward to be able to reset over the next two weeks and the next month to get faster based on what we learned today.”