Greenfield-Central’s Jaeden Peters swims the breaststroke portion of the 200-yard IM against New Palestine last season.
Rob Baker | For The Daily Reporter
By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Just a few years ago, the Greenfield-Central boys swimming and diving team was on a decade-long tear of winning both the Hoosier Heritage Conference and sectional championships.
Last season, they placed fifth at the HHC meet and seventh in the New Palestine Sectional.
Step one for the 2022-23 Cougars to get back to their old ways in the pool was for head coach Mark Logan to fill a full roster.
After only having 12 swimmers last season, they have bigger numbers this year (currently at 18) and will be more team focused than a year ago.
“We definitely have some more depth, and we keep getting more guys to come out every day. Last year it was pretty much whatever your best event was, you got to swim it,” Logan said. “It was unusual because most of the time on a full, quality roster people are waiting for their turn or fighting for a spot.”
While that newly added depth is important for the Cougars, it also leads to an inexperienced team.
“It’s a very young team, and with that many new people it’s a very inexperienced team. But it’s been a good group of guys, and they’ve been working hard so far this season,” Logan said. “It’s just about getting them developed and finding out who is going to swim what.”
With a young team, discovering which events are the best spots for each guy to compete will be priority one for Logan.
“This year is really going to be just playing with the roster and seeing who is going to be best in what spots to give us the best team when it comes to the sectional,” Logan said. “It’s kind of exciting to get to see how they improve over the course of the season.”
From what he’s seen so far, Logan is happy with the way the younger guys have been competing at practice, especially newcomer Aiden Michael.
“Aiden has been improving, and he’s a very versatile swimmer,” Logan said. “But they’re all working hard, and it will be exciting to see who blossoms and fits in where.”
The Cougars do have some experience with a trio of seniors, Jaeden Peters, Tyler Swango and Alex Jahrsdoerfer.
“Jaden, Tyler, Alex will be some of our leaders this year,” Logan said. “And they’re going to have quite a few people under their belts.”
Jahrsdoerfer is coming off of a season in which he was a sectional champion, placed fourth at the regional, and 19th at state in the 1-meter diving event.
“That experience under his belt will be big for this season,” Logan said. “He’s also a key sprinter for us too, so he does double duty.”
Greenfield-Central opens up the season, at home, on Nov. 22 against Frankton.
