NEW PALESTINE — The Greenfield-Central boys and girls swimming teams arrived at New Palestine High School on Saturday fatigued from several competitive meets the past few weeks.
But the Cougars also showed up hungry.
The Greenfield-Central boys swim team extended its championship streak to eight straight after securing the Hoosier Heritage Conference on Saturday, scoring 532 points, with Mt. Vernon finishing second with 329.
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The Cougars girls took second place with 430 points behind Pendleton Heights High School with 481.
Greenfield-Central
The Cougars entered the building decked out in team T-shirts reading “Veni, Vidi, Vici.” As predicted, the boys indeed came, saw and conquered, scoring 11 event victories to boot, said Greenfield-Central head coach Mark Logan.
Team leaders sliced through the water led by senior Zach Cook, who won the 100-yard butterfly in 50:23 and the 100 backstroke in 52:70.
Senior Ethan Kile won the 200 individual medley at 1:58:88 and the 100 breaststroke at 59:69, while senior Chris Joven emerged victorious in the 50 free in 21.85. Joven also won the 100 free in 48.74.
In the 200 free, sophomore Sam Jennings glided past his old time, taking first place at 1:46:19 and inching past his seed time of 1:47:51. Jennings also took first place in the 500 free at 4:53:44.
The Cougars’ 200 medley relay team won in 1:41.70, and the 200 freestyle relay was victorious in 1:29.96. The 400 freestyle relay placed first in 3:17.35.
“We’ve done a lot of good work so far,” Logan said. “This time of year, you get kind of antsy and want to know if it will pay off.”
On the girls side, sophomore Megan Coffin showed remarkable persistence in her battle against Yorktown’s Emily Weiss in the 100 breaststroke, head coach Emily Logan said.
Coffin finished second at 1:10:20 to Weiss’ 1:03:00. Coffin actually enjoyed the challenge because it gave her the chance to pick up a few tips from a champion, Emily Logan said.
Team leader and junior Carley Logan kicked furiously past the rest of the competitors in both the 200 and 500 freestyle, finishing in 2:01:04 and 5:21:29 respectively.
Despite taking second to Pendleton Heights, Emily Logan said the girls brought everything they had to the conference that day despite the aches and pains.
She couldn’t ask for more.
“They were tired all day long, but our girls came out and swum tough all day long right close to their season-best times,” Emily Logan said.
Mt. Vernon
The Hoosier Heritage Conference served as a chance for the Marauders to test the waters and get a feel for how they’d perform at sectional, said head coach Brad Grieshop.
For the boys, the most notable improvement was made by freshman Logan Schomaker, who dropped more than 12 seconds off his seed time in the 200 free with a time of 2:02:91. He tied Yorktown’s Isaac Suer for ninth place, but Grieshop still marked it up as a major achievement.
“He had a monster day,” Grieshop said. “That was probably one of our better swims of the day.”
Mt. Vernon’s two standouts on the girls team, junior Zoey Musick and senior Lydia Tierney, helped push their team. Tierney took second in the 100 butterfly in 1:00:43, and Musick finished fifth in the 100 breaststroke at 1:15:50. Tierney was also first in the 200 IM at 2:12.71.
“We’re in a good spot right now,” Grieshop said. “We definitely have a couple good things to continue to work on and make a big difference by the end of the year.”
New Palestine
The New Palestine’s boys and girls teams came in fifth place with 208 and 197 points, respectively. This year, the HHC meet gave individual swimmers a chance to understand their performance before diving into sectional, said head coach Stephen Maxwell.
“Sometimes it’s just about evaluating the individual and not the team or the points or anything,” Maxwell said.
The Dragons strongest finisher included exchange student Iago Broullon-Blanco, who was fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03:94. The junior also finished fifth in the 200 IM at 2:12:04.
The team is stocked with younger athletes, but the conference’s relays gave his team necessary exposure to a competitive atmosphere, Maxwell said.
“In a year, they’ll make a difference,” Maxwell said. “But this year it was getting them to appreciate themselves and recognize their own improvement.”
