Staff Report
INDIANAPOLIS — The goal on Friday night was to advance into the 2020-21 IHSAA boys swimming and diving medal and consolation races today.
The defending Hoosier Heritage Conference and sectional champion Mt. Vernon Marauders and the Greenfield-Central Cougars achieved just that inside the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis.
The Marauders will compete in three swimming events during today’s placement round, while the Cougars will be represented in four competitions, including 1-meter diving, which sophomore Alexander Jahrsdoerfer qualified for by placing seventh during Tuesday’s Plainfield Diving Regional.
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The IHSAA state finals’ championship and consolation finals will take place at 3:30 p.m. today. The diving preliminaries, semifinals and finals will begin at 9 a.m.
The Mt. Vernon 200-yard medley relay team placed seventh in their preliminary heat on Friday with a time of 1 minute, 37.05 seconds to put them into today’s consolation race.
Individually, Mt. Vernon senior Aiden Tierney will swim in both the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly championship finals.
Tierney placed third during the evening’s state swimming preliminary session on Friday in the 100 butterfly with a time of 48.87. His seed time was 50.42.
He was second during his heat in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 54.83, besting his seed time of 56.77.
The state finals’ preliminaries were broken up into two sessions on Friday due to COVID-19 safety protocols with the Marauders and Cougars both competing in the evening after the first session was conducted earlier in the day.
The Cougars’ 400 freestyle relay thrived in the prime time evening slot finishing their preliminary heat in 3:10.34 to beat their seed time of 3:14.01. They placed third in their heat to move into today’s consolation final.
Greenfield-Central senior Travis Black was fourth in his 50 freestyle preliminary heat with a time of 20.74, which put him in the championship final.
He also qualified for the consolation final in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.02 during his preliminary heat for fourth. His seed time was 46.00.
The championship finals will determine the state’s top-eight swimmers in each event, while the consolation awards the competitors in placements 9-16.
