NEW PALESTINE — The opportunity was there.
The unbeaten Mt. Vernon boys swimming team knew it. Marauders head coach Brad Grieshop calculated its probability multiple times.
The Mt. Vernon seniors anticipated it — a goal four-plus years in the making.
All the Marauders needed to do was seize it, and on Saturday as they stood atop the winner’s podium together at New Palestine High School, they collectively made history.
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For the first time in 10 years, there was a new Hoosier Heritage Conference boys swimming and diving team champion, and for the first time it was Mt. Vernon.
"It’s always sat there in the back of my mind that this is definitely going to happen, and I knew with this senior class, if we were going to do it, it had to be this year. It was going to be this year, and they made that happen," Grieshop remarked after his Marauders amassed 394 points to win the HHC team title.
"We’ve been knocking on the door for several years. They’ve been runners-up, and now, it’s the breakthrough we’ve been working for and these guys earned it this year."
Even with defending HHC champion Greenfield-Central shorthanded due to COVID-19 quarantines, nothing came easy for the Marauders.
The Cougars came out determined to extend their championship streak to 11 straight years, winning four swimming events and garnering key points with a runner-up finish from Alex Jahrsdoerfer in the morning’s 1-meter diving competition.
Rival Delta hung around with two conference-record wins from Purdue commit Brady Samuels, who took the 100-yard butterfly (48.94) and the 100 backstroke (49.71), while Sam Bennett (588.65) won the diving title.
The team championship race proved tight, at least, until the Marauders extinguished the threat with a pair of late wins to keep second-place Greenfield-Central (342) and third-place Delta (324) at bay.
A victory by the Marauders’ 200 freestyle relay team consisting of seniors Aiden Tierney, Aidan Murphy and Evan Flick and sophomore Brady Gray in 1 minute, 31.08 seconds provided some breathing room.
Tierney’s winning conference-record swim in the 100 breaststroke (57.91), however, made the finale a reality.
"I knew it was close. I try to stay away from the points because that can kind of get in your head, and it’s more pressure. But, I came into the 100 breast knowing that we had a really good shot, and I was just trying to go fast," Tierney said. "I knew everything else was going to fall into place after that."
The dominoes fell afterwards and beforehand as the Marauders set the pace with five first-place medals overall and a second-place swim by Tierney against Samuels in the 100 butterfly at 52.90.
Gray won two events in the 50 free (22.65) and the 100 free (50.73), while the 200 medley relay team locked down Mt. Vernon’s fifth medal. The quartet of Murphy, Gray, Tierney and Flick scored a time of 1:40.82 to win the event.
Greenfield-Central won the final race, the 400 freestyle relay in 3:21.01 consisting of seniors Michael Joven, Sam Logan, Clay Griffin and Anthony Nagel, but the Marauders could watch and breathe easy.
"It’s really fun. It is a little bittersweet because (Greenfield-Central) had a couple key swimmers out, but it’s fun," Tierney said. "You always see the other people winning and having a good time, laughing at the end of the meet, and Mt. Vernon has never really been like that because Greenfield has been so dominant. It’s kind of giving us a taste for sectional, so conference was fun for sure."
The Cougars didn’t celebrate. Instead, they showed their grit despite being without multi-state place winner Travis Black, a senior, who was unable to participate due to quarantine.
"That’s what I’m most proud about because it could have been easy for them to just kind say, we don’t have a chance with three of our top-four point scorers are out," Cougars head coach Mark Logan said. "But, they’re competitors and came out and competed."
Sam Logan supplied the Cougars with a pair of wins in the 200 free (1:46.81) and in the the 500 free (4:53.64). Nagel won the 200 IM in 1:59.03, but wherever Greenfield-Central scored points, the Marauders weren’t far behind.
Flick finished third in the 200 free (1:54.11) and was fourth in the 500 free (5:24.55). Senior Logan Schomaker was sixth in the 100 backstroke and sophomore Matthew Garey was sixth in the 200 IM.
Murphy was fourth in the 100 free (52.63) ahead of both New Palestine and Greenfield-Central.
New Palestine, which placed fourth in the team standings with 241 points, helped the Marauders’ cause with a runner-up swim by senior Jack Schwartz in the 50 free (22.82) and a fifth-place swim by junior Ben Miesse (53.02) in the 100 free.
The Dragons were third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:35.12) in front of Yorktown and Greenfield-Central.
Every point counted for the Marauders, and the numbers fell into place.
"Greenfield had a heck of a meet. They swam really well. Their kids were picking up small points here and there, and it made a fun meet to be a part of and to witness. It was a great day for us," Grieshop said.
"It’s huge. It’s a great confidence boost not just for these guys this year going forward but also in the future to know, hey, we can come in and we can compete. We can do this."
A repeat showing at sectional in February will require another team effort, if the Marauders intend to derail the Cougars’ championship run that has spanned 10 years.
"I always say, ifs and buts or candies and nuts. We’d all have a Merry Christmas. It is what it is, you know, and again, it’s about the performance and the effort. It would have been a different story, if again, they came in and just had a mentality of just having to swim through the meet. And, they didn’t," Logan said. "They are competitors."
And for the first time, the Marauders are the hunted.
"That’s what I told them. We got them in the dual meet for the first time in a while, we swam really great here to get the conference swim, and to pull that off, I said, are two check marks out of three. We’d love to get them again at sectional, so let’s go toe-for-toe, big swim for big swim and let’s see what happens," Grieshop said. "That’s got to be our drive and a goal as we work together as a team to know we’re going to go toe-for-toe with a team that’s been dominant for several years."
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2020 Hoosier Heritage Conference Boys Swimming and Diving Championship
At New Palestine High School
Team Scores: Mt. Vernon 394, Greenfield-Central 342, Delta 324, New Palestine 233, Yorktown 226, New Castle 225, Pendleton Heights 211, Shelbyville 120.
Individual Event Winners
200 medley relay: Mt. Vernon (1:40.82)
200 freestyle: Sam Logan, G-C (1:46.81)
200 IM: Anthony Nagel, G-C (1:59.03)
50 freestyle: Brady Gray, MV (22.65)
100 butterfly: Brady Samuels, DHS (48.94)
100 freestyle: Brady Gray, MV (50.73)
500 freestyle: Sam Logan, G-C (4:53.64)
200 freestyle relay: Mt. Vernon (1:31.08)
100 backstroke: Brady Samuels, DHS (49.71)
100 breaststroke: Aiden Tierney, MV (57.91)
400 freestyle relay: Greenfield-Central (3:21.01)
1-meter diving: Sam Bennett, DHS (588.65)
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