For the Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — A ninth consecutive title by the Greenfield-Central boys’ swimming and diving team was made even sweeter Saturday at New Palestine as the Cougars pulled off an impressive sweep in the Hoosier Heritage Conference championships.
Led by sophomore Travis Black and junior Samuel Jennings, who both won two individual events, the boys’ team continued their HHC dominance with a score of 397 points. Mt. Vernon posted a strong second with 330 points and Delta rounded out the top three with 316. Host New Palestine finished seventh at 173.
On the girls’ side, Greenfield-Central topped defending champion Pendleton Heights with a total of 429 points. The Arabians finished second at 388 and Yorktown, led by two conference record-setting swims from senior Emily Weiss, finished third at 334. Mt. Vernon placed fifth at 245 and New Palestine scored 154 points to finish seventh.
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“It’s a unique experience,” Greenfield-Central boys’ coach Mark Logan said. “Not many programs and not many people get the opportunity to say they’ve been a part of that many wins in a row. It was a solid team effort all the way around. This is a meet of heart because you have to swim your best when you’re not at your best.”
The Cougars showed plenty of heart in a meet that comes during a typically heavy holiday training period.
Black, the sophomore sprinter, earned gold every time he entered the pool. He edged Delta’s Brady Samuels by just four hundredths of a second in the 50 free, cruised to a win in the 100 free and was part of the victorious 200 medley and 400 free relays. His leadoff time of 48.39 in the 400 relay gave the Cougars a three-and-a-half second cushion.
“I think I swam pretty well,” Black said. “I know what the conference records are so I was kind of shooting for those. I didn’t get them but I’m not particularly heartbroken about that.”
Black’s focus is landing in the top eight at state in the 50 free. His teammate, Jennings, also has a goal of placing in the state finals. On Saturday, the junior captured the 200 free, 500 free and anchored the winning 400 free relay.
He just missed records on the individual events but was happy to keep the team winning streak alive.
“It’s an inspiration to keep building our culture together as a team,” Jennings said. “We want to get as many people as we can (in state) and improve on last year.”
The Greenfield-Central standouts were not the only double-event winners as Mt. Vernon sophomore Aiden Tierney won both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. In a back-and-forth battle with Greenfield-Central sophomore Anthony Nagel, Tierney used a strong final freestyle leg to secure the win in the individual medley.
“I didn’t look at him until around the 100 mark,” Tierney said. “I saw he was pretty close to me and I tried to kick it into another gear.”
Tierney again overcame a strong challenge by Nagel in the 100 breaststroke for his second victory.
Mt. Vernon coach Brad Grieshop, who was named the HHC boys’ coach of the year, was pleased with the work of his teams.
“We had a lot of personal best and season best times,” Grieshop said. “The second half of the meet we really raced well. We’ve had some great training over the past two weeks and now we have an idea of what we need to do to get ready for sectionals.”
Halle Strege paced the Marauders girls’ team with a second-place finish in the diving competition.
Greenfield-Central girls’ coach Emily Logan gave her divers credit for helping them get past Pendleton Heights.
“Going into diving we were down,” Logan said. “We came out of diving ahead by a point or so. That was kind of a mental turnaround, even for our swimmers. We were in the lead, even though it was a small lead. That was enough to get us going.”
Grace Hall led the Greenfield-Central divers and moved up to third place with a total of 322.71.
The overall catalyst for the Greenfield-Central girls was distance specialist Carley Logan. She won the 200 free, 500 free and anchored the 400 free relay.
“After losing it last year, winning it this year is a great accomplishment,” Logan said. “On paper, we weren’t supposed to win. Instead we went out and got it.”
Jessica Rogers powered host New Palestine with a third place in the 100 free and fifth place in the 50 free. Tyler Corey added a fourth in the 50 free for the New Pal boys and Austin Lines placed fifth in diving.
“We weren’t really aggressive in our races,” New Palestine coach Steve Maxwell said. “We had about 23 best times but it wasn’t a satisfying meet overall.”
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At New Palestine High School
Team Scores
Girls: Greenfield-Central 429, Pendleton Heights 388, Yorktown 334, Shelbyville 286, Mt. Vernon 245, Delta 159, New Palestine 154, New Castle 105.
Boys: Greenfield-Central 397, Mt. Vernon 330, Delta 316, Yorktown 273, Shelbyville 254, Pendleton Heights 223, New Palestine 173, New Castle 109.
Event Winners and Hancock County Swimmers in Top 5
Girls
200 medley relay: 1. Shelbyville 1:51.48, 4. Greenfield-Central (Riley Grandstaff, Addison Noah, Sarah Stutz, Rebekah Bogle) 2:02.66, 5. Mt. Vernon (Maddie Moore, Zoey Musick, Mary Nosek, Riese Thornton) 2:02.74
200 free: 1. Carley Logan (GC) 1:59.80, 5. Bogle (GC) 2:09.48
200 IM: 1. Emily Weiss (Y) 2:07.08 (meet record)
50 free: 1. Karissa Hamilton (S) 25.02, 4. Anne Marie DeKeyser (GC) 25.90, 5. Jessica Rogers (NP) 26.07.
Diving: 1. Graycen Neu (D) 350.64, 2. Halle Strege (MV) 346.35, 3. Grace Hall (GC) 322.75, 4. Karen Shriver (NP) 322.30.
100 fly: 1. Megan Coffin (GC) 59.16
100 free: 1. Ellie Alexander (Y) 55.45, 2. DeKeyser (GC) 56.85, 3. Rogers (NP) 57.17
500 free: 1. Logan (GC) 5:23.31, 5. Noah (GC) 5:46.76
200 free relay: 1. Shelbyville 1:42.96, 3. Greenfield-Central (DeKeyser, Bogle, Coffin, Logan) 1:44.67, 5. Mt. Vernon (Abby Crouch, Musick, Fiona Wray, Thornton) 1:52.88.
100 back: 1. Lily Brooks (PH) 1:02.68, 3. Grandstaff (GC) 1:06.70, 4. Moore (MV) 1:07.52, 5. Stutz (GC) 1:07.59.
100 breast: 1. Weiss (Y) 1:02.10 (meet record), 2. Coffin (GC) 1:08.08, 5. Musick (MV) 1:14.82.
400 free relay: 1. Greenfield-Central (DeKeyser, Stutz, Coffin, Logan) 3:50.34, 4. New Palestine (Rogers, Maria Virt, Bailey Young, Cassy Moorman) 4:10.93, 5. Mt. Vernon (Crouch, Isabelle Grandstaff, Moore, Nosek) 4:14.28.
Boys
200 medley relay: 1. Greenfield-Central (Samuel Logan, Drew Noah, Jackson Pechin, Travis Black) 1:41.07, 2. Mt. Vernon (Aiden Tierney, Evan Flick, Kaylen Morgan, Joseph Shepard) 1:44.80, 6. New Palestine (Marlon Cabrera, Kyle Ellis, Tyler Corey, Jackson Schwartz) 1:53.28
200 free: 1. Samuel Jennings (GC) 1:46.27, 5. Logan Schomaker (MV) 2:01.03, 6. Drew (GC) 2:02.02
200 IM: 1. Tierney (MV) 2:01.42, 2. Anthony Nagel (GC) 2:01.59, 4. Shepard (MV) 2:16.33, 5. Pechin (GC) 2:16.72
50 free: 1. Black (GC) 21.55, 4. Tyler Corey (NP) 23.90
Diving: 1. Sam Bennett (D) 418.95, 5. Austin Lines (NP) 240.40
100 fly: 1. Brady Samuels (D) 51.27, 2. Logan (GC) 54.11, 4. Pechin (GC) 56.39
100 free: 1. Black (GC) 48.25
500 free: 1. Jennings (GC) 4:47.08, 3. Cole Worley (MV) 5:14.82, 4. Flick (MV) 5:18.70
200 free relay: 1. Delta 1:32.75, 2. Greenfield-Central (Michael Joven, Pechin, Nagel, Jennings) 1:35.93, 4. Mt. Vernon (Morgan, Flick, James Demircioglu, Schomaker) 1:37.09.
100 back: 1. Logan (GC) 55.64, 5. Carter Hudziak (GC) 1:01.20.
100 breast: 1. Tierney (MV) 1:01.30, 2. Nagel (GC) 1:02.14, 3. Noah (GC) 1:03.73, 5. Flick (MV) 1:09.64.
400 free relay: 1. Greenfield-Central (Black, Logan, Nagel, Jennings) 3:19.95, 4. Mt. Vernon (Shepard, Schomaker, Worley, Tierney) 3:31.79.
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