FORTVILLE — Even with a mask concealing his face Monday night, Mt. Vernon senior Aiden Tierney was smiling underneath.
Far from a boastful grin, Tierney’s reaction to the Marauders boys’ dual win, 109-74, over rival Greenfield-Central was one filled with optimism rather than arrogance as he thought ahead towards this weekend’s Hoosier Heritage Conference meet and beyond.
Anchored by a solid senior nucleus, the Marauders continue to showcase their potential this season, and their fifth straight dual win to improve to 5-0 and 3-0 against HHC foes presents them with a big opportunity this Saturday at New Palestine High School.
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Typically, a time to focus on individual gains, the Marauders are hopeful of collective success at conference this year despite the ever-evolving unknowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve been training hard these last few months, and we’re hoping we can swim because of COVID. We’re crossing our fingers,” Tierney said. “When my class were freshmen, we kind of always were looking forward to this season because we know we have a really strong class this year. Our top-five swimmers are probably seniors, except for Brady Gray. We have really been looking forward to this.”
Greenfield-Central remains the defending HHC champion, a spot the Cougars have held for a decade, but due to recent contact tracing quarantines of a few key swimmers, including senior Travis Black, a Grand Valley State commit, their run at another team title might become difficult to predict.
Mt. Vernon swim coach Brad Grieshop is fully aware of the scenario, but overconfidence isn’t the Marauders’ style.
Depth is their game.
And, with Tierney, fellow seniors Aidan Murphy, Evan Flick, James Demircioglu, Logan Schomaker, and talented underclassmen Brady Gray, a sophomore, Caleb Strenge, a junior, Ethan Murphy, a sophomore, and others, Mt. Vernon is a notable contender.
Last year, the Marauders placed second at conference with 344 points behind Greenfield-Central’s 443 and ahead of Delta at 289.5.
If the Marauders’ lineup stays healthy and somewhat intact the rest of the week heading into Saturday, the scores could get tighter in 2020 with dual wins over both the Cougars and Delta (103-82) already.
“You can go in with your best-laid plan and you can have two to three backups, and you just never know what’s going to happen. You just go in hoping for the best and attacking it one day at a time,” Grieshop said. “(Against Greenfield), we were also short a couple of swimmers, and at the end of the day, you have to do your thing whether they are here or not. This is an opportunity to race. This is an opportunity to possibly get a best time, an in-season best time, so you have to take advantage of that. I think that’s the key.”
Tierney doing what he does best is another.
Similar to his older siblings, Tierney is building his legacy each winter. His older sister, Lydia owns six school records with four individual marks through her time in 2015-18.
His older brother, Dixon, who is also an assistant coach at Mt. Vernon, set two individual records and was part of three record-setting relay teams before graduating in 2016.
Aiden claimed three individual records last season in the 200-yard IM, 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke to go with a pair of relay school-record standards.
“I got a couple of records. It’s always fun to get those, especially when you’re getting them from your brother,” Tierney joked. “Stealing those right from him, but there are a lot of memories to go with those as well because I’ve been swimming for about 12 years. It’s nice to get those when you’re swimming in high school.”
The goal for Aiden is a strong showing at conference, but the long-term aim is another state appearance where he placed 12th in the 200 IM with a preliminary time of 1 minute, 50.95 seconds followed by a finals time of 1:54.75.
His sixth-place finish at state in the 100 breaststroke broke his own mark in the event with a finals time of 56.37. He actually rewrote the record twice this past February at state with a preliminary time of 56.76.
“We’re hoping for a fast state. I’ve been looking at some kids around the state that have been swimming in dual meets, and they’ve been swimming kind of fast. I’m hoping to get back up there again this year. That’s the plan,” Tierney said.
“Four of those guys in the 100 breaststroke were seniors, so we’re hoping for a top-three in the 100 breast and maybe a top-eight in the 200 IM.”
Against Greenfield-Central, Tierney focused on a new target in the 100 butterfly, winning the race in 53.51 after posting a 1:00.19 in the 100 breaststroke for first over New Palestine the dual prior.
He recorded a breaststroke time of 1:00.77 against Greenfield-Central, an event he won in 57.83 over Cougars’ Anthony Nagel at sectional last season.
“He’s got several events, and ultimately, it’s going to be where he feels and we feel he can place the best at state, and that’s always our goal. What does state look like for Aiden? Who’s in what events and what are his personal goals?,” Grieshop said. “That’s always a big guide on the decision making as far as where we want to go with things.”
How the team positions itself will be a point of interest for the HHC with Flick and sophomore Matthew Garey rotating at the 200 free and 200 IM, and Brady Gray showing promise at the 50 free and 100 free where Tierney has competed in the latter as well.
“That’s what we’ve been talking to them about. Don’t get zoned in on wanting to be in this event or that event. Be ready for multiple events because it adds to that depth and just makes the team that much stronger at all our meets,” Grieshop said. “This is probably the deepest teams we’ve had in several years.”
The 200 medley relay team is another probable source of points for the Marauders, who are keeping a watchful eye on both Greenfield-Central and Delta, who is led by Purdue commit Brady Samuels.
The Delta senior helped the Eagles placed 12th at state in 2019-20 by finishing sixth in the 50 free and second in the 100 free as a junior, while Samuel Bennett was first in the 1-meter diving competition.
A strong push at the HHC meet for the Marauders could mean another top-three team placement at sectional where they were runner-up to the Cougars and eventually placed 22nd at state. Greenfield-Central was 14th at state at full strength.
“That would be great, but there’s some stiff competition out there still. It’s completely different looking at a conference score setup versus a dual meet because now you’re throwing in all these extra teams and that pushes your scoring even further apart and you’re going to have points taken from you and take points from the other teams,” Grieshop said. “Saturday is a whole new day, and we have to go out and perform again and earn that win, if that’s the outcome of the meet.”
