For the Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — For the 2018-19 girls swim season, Hancock County can expect big things.
Each of the four programs brings back a wealth of talent, and they believe this can lead to improvement across the board. Of course, with each program operating at their own unique level, goals and expectations are different. From scoring points at the State Finals to beating full teams with a roster of only five swimmers, the success of each team is in the eye of the beholder.
Greenfield-Central
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Emily Logan is beginning her seventh year at Greenfield-Central. For the last five years, her team has emerged as the sectional champion, in a meet that involves all four Hancock County schools and other east central Indiana programs.
“We’ve just been lucky to build up a great culture here at G-C,” Logan said. “Swimming is not a sport for someone who wants to dabble, so it took a lot of buy-in from the kids based on where things were when we got here and the kids have fed it on down each year.”
Looking to take over the leadership this season are senior Carley Logan (200 and 500 freestyle) and juniors Megan Coffin (breaststroke) and Anne Marie DeKeyser (50 and 100 freestyle).
Carley Logan qualified for the state meet last year in her two marquee individual events and was the Hoosier Heritage Conference champion in both events as well. Emily Logan says things are looking up even higher for her this season.
“Based on her timing at this point in the year compared to past seasons, she is already swimming three or four seconds faster,” Logan said. “I think scoring points for the team at the state meet is definitely a possibility for her this year.”
“Megan is a very versatile swimmer for us and could end up swimming one or two other events,” said Logan. “And DeKeyser will be stepping into a state qualifier’s shoes from last year and has a great shot to keep up that legacy herself.”
Logan also expects juniors Sarah Stutz and Addie Noah to provide crucial depth scoring for the team as well. Further, she is expecting big debut seasons from Ariel Niemeier, Ellei Coleman, and Riely Grandstaff as freshmen.
“We are always hungry for a conference and sectional title,” Logan said. “But this year we need to take the next step and start scoring at the state level.”
Eastern Hancock
The Eastern Hancock Royals girls team this year, barring injury, will roll into sectionals with five swimmers. But that doesn’t mean they expect to finish last. Last season, the Royals finished in seventh place of nine teams and within striking distance of sixth.
“Our expectations are pretty simple,” Royals coach Derek McCormick said. “We expect to score the same amount of points in sectionals as last season and finish in the top eight in the same number of events.”
Leading the way for the Royals will be juniors Ellie Griesmeyer (50 and 100 freestyle) and Elise Huffman (200 and 500 freestyle).
“These two have been swimming year-round for four years now; they know what my expectations are for them and are working hard to meet them,” McCormick said.
Rounding out the roster for the Royals are Grace McCartney, Naomi Surburg and foreign exchange student Martina Romano.
The Royals will compete in two competitive invitationals this season to attempt to gain important exposure to the talent they can expect to see at the sectional meet.
“Our kids haven’t been seeing a lot of competition until sectionals in the past,” McCormick said. “So its important for us to expose them to that early on to minimize the nerves come sectional time.”
Mt. Vernon
The Mt. Vernon Marauders, runners-up at sectional to Greenfield-Central, are looking to close the gap on the Cougars despite losing state qualifier Lydia Tierney to graduation.
Despite that loss, Marauders coach Brad Grieshop believes that gap can tighten this season due to his young and talented squad.
“We’ve made improvements in training, both on the coaching end and the athlete end, that I think will lead to positive results,” said Grieshop.
Leading the way for the Marauders will be seniors Zoey Musick (breaststroke) and Maddie Mull (butterfly).
“Both of those girls have been working extremely hard and are focused on having an outstanding senior season,” Grieshop said. “They’ve got the rest of the girls coming together towards our goals and beliefs.”
Maddie Moore, Fiona Wray and Isabelle Grandstaff all return this season as well. Each finished in the top eight of the sectional finals in the backstroke and are looking to score as many points as possible in that event and others to push the Marauders point total up.
Grieshop has three freshmen expected to contribute as well in Mary Noseck, Ila Boston and Maura Musick.
“We’ve definitely increased our depth from last season,” Grieshop said. “It’s interesting though to see how well our freshmen are already filling in some gaps we’ve had in the past. I think we will definitely be an improved team this year.”
New Palestine
The New Palestine Dragons will have perhaps the youngest of the county squads this season, as out of 28 swimmers, only seven are juniors or seniors. For Dragons coach Steve Maxwell, entering his 19th season, it’s a fun challenge.
“It’s definitely more of an instructional type of coaching with a team this young,” Maxwell said. “We will need to try kids out in a lot of different events to help them find their niche.”
Three upperclassmen appear to be locked into events and leadership roles for this year’s team, however. Juniors Jessica Rogers (butterfly), Karen Shriver (diving), and senior Maria Virt.
Rogers finished as the runner-up in the butterfly event at the sectional meet last year to a graduated senior, so there are high hopes for her to win that event and finish in the top three in freestyle sprints.
As for Virt, Maxwell is hoping she can step into a starring role for the squad this year.
“She swam in her ‘off’ events last year to help out the team,” Maxwell said. “This year, we plan on using her in events she’s more comfortable in so she can gun for top five finishes.”
“We know that a strong finish at sectionals, for us, is not finishing in first,” Maxwell said when asked what his ultimate goal is. “But instead we need to focus on swimming at our absolute peak, individual-wise and team-wise, and see where that takes us.”
