Girls High School Swimming: Munster Sectional Overview
Munster - This season the Munster Seahorses are swimming with a chip on their shoulders. Crown Point broke the long time sectional winning streak that was held by the Seahorses.
Knowing it was a close battle Crown Point put everything they had into winning the sectional title until the last event. However, Munster did not give up the fight. It is a new year, a fresh season and sectionals will be hosted on Munster's home turf. SWIMMERS TO WATCH OUT FOR: Allison Cunningham, a Senior, will have a huge impact on the team this year. She got second at last year's sectional in the 200 and third in the 500. Cunningham has speed, endurance and experience on her side. Nikki Smith, a Senior, only jumped into the 500 race near the end of last season and placed second at sectionals and ended up placing well at state in this event. She will also have a huge impact in the butterfly race as well where last year she took second in that event. Mary Bridget Baeza, a Senior, contributed to the depth of Munster's team last year. She finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 100 free. She will only build on the success she had as a junior this season. UP AND COMERS: Nicole Wakefield, a Sophomore, was sixth in the 500 at last season's sectional and actually out touched Baeza in the 100 breaststroke as a freshman. Her time is only a few steps away from Kelsi Artim's sectional winning time. The battle may just come down to these two sophomores in the 100 breaststroke this season. Megan Wimmer, a Sophomore, was known as a speedster her freshman year when she took sixth in the 100 free and fourth in the 200. She also played a part in Munster taking first in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay. This year Munster will rely on her for much needed speed. Margaret Vaitkus, Sophomore, is another speed demon. She finished sixth in the 200 free and won the consultation Final of the 100 free. Her time actually would have placed her seventh in the championship final. TEAM HEROES: It is all up to Audrey Mayer who is a senior now. She was one of three Munster backstrokers among the field at last season's sectional. Sixth and seventh place Munster swimmers are now graduated. Mayer finished second in this event to Highland's Jacklyn Smailis. With Crown Point having two swimmers returning who finished third and fourth last year, it is up to Mayer to own this event for her team......unless another Munster swimmer steps up in this event. |
The Rensselaer Bombers Have Started A New Tradition More Painful Than The 400 IM
The Rensselaer Bombers started a new tradition a few years back called, The Underwater Olympics.
The Underwater Olympics is one of the most fun yet painful challenges in High School swimming. The Underwater Olympics: The first underwater is just a 25 in the diving well. The second underwater is just a 25 in the normal pool The third underwater is around the diving well. The forth underwater you go diagonal in the main pool. The fifth underwater is the big L. ( 25 yards plus short side of the pool ) The sixth underwater is 50 yards. The seventh underwater is diagonal twice. The eight underwater is the Z ( short side plus diagonal side and short side again. ) The ninth underwater was the C ( short side, a 25 and another short side again ) There was said to be many more on the list but the team ran out of time at the end and had to settle for a winner. The winner was settled simply by who could go the farthest. John Urbano, Guerby Ruuska and Anjel Clemente all three settled for 3rd finishing with a 50 underwater. Sophomore Samuel Mihalich finished 2nd finishing with a 75 underwater and senior Gage Engleking became the 2014 Rensselaer Bombers Underwater Olympic champ finishing in a 75 plus the distance to the flags. If you can't finish your underwater, you are disqualified. During the 50 yards underwater senior Parker Balvich went for the 75 instead. "Well I have always wanted to see how far I could go and only knew one person to ever do a 75 so I figured I would give it a try" This is a crazy yet interesting challenge these young men have put together. You wonder how anyone could think something like The Underwater Olympics could be fun. "I think it is a fun game to play and it's a challenge. Its a competition with your teammates but also just to have fun." "I have to like it; Connor and I came up with it haha!" Balvich added. If you think about it, this challenge is the perfect way to test your team in many ways. But mostly, it's just really fun. "The Underwater Olympics are a great way to test someone's sheer will power. The person who can hold their breath the longest is never the person who wins. It's always the person crazy enough to keep holding it, even when they know it's gonna hurt. I love how the best of people comes out in the Underwater Olympics, but really despise how sometimes I just can't deal with the lack of breath. It can be quite the mind game" Said senior team captain, John Urbano. |
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WL Freshman Wins Our Freshman of The Year
SwamSwimming's Freshman of the Year Award goes out to West Lafayette's Charles Vaughan.
Vaughan had an amazing showing at the state meet.
He finished 4th in the B - Final of the 200 IM in a time of 1:52.94
and 15th overall in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.96.
Vaughan also helped West Lafayette win the 200 yard medley relay B - Final with his outstanding breaststroke split of 26.02.
And was a part of their 200 freestlye relay that placed 12th.
The really amazing thing about Vaughan is that he won his sectional in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 56.39.
Charles Vaughan,
SwamSwimming Freshman of The Year
Vaughan had an amazing showing at the state meet.
He finished 4th in the B - Final of the 200 IM in a time of 1:52.94
and 15th overall in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.96.
Vaughan also helped West Lafayette win the 200 yard medley relay B - Final with his outstanding breaststroke split of 26.02.
And was a part of their 200 freestlye relay that placed 12th.
The really amazing thing about Vaughan is that he won his sectional in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 56.39.
Charles Vaughan,
SwamSwimming Freshman of The Year
Aaron Whitaker Wins Our Swimmer of The State Meet Award
Not only did Whitaker help break a national record in the 400 freestyle relay but he also helped the Chesterton Trojans swim the second fastest medley relay time in High School history.
Whitaker broke six records this weekend including two of his own records he broke in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly that was set last year. Aaron Whitaker, SwamSwimming 2014 Swimmer of the State Meet award winner. |
Avon Believes What No One Does
A group of seven boys are determined to show the state what they are made of.
Greg Sprout, ( senior ) Parks Jones, ( Junior ) Chandler Bray, ( sophomore ) Grant Lewis, ( Junior ) Garrett Hammons, ( sophomore ) Christian Lorenz, ( senior ) and Michael Goldhammer ( senior ) Avon may have 5 fewer swimmers than the Chesterton state squad but what the boys do have is versatility. All year it has been Chesterton, Chesterton but Avon truly believes they can challenge the defending state champ, Trojans. "Our goal as a team from the beginning of the year has been to win a state championship," said junior Parks Jones who has been setting out to become a state champ himself in the 200 freestyle. "I have focused in a lot on my turns and learning to quicken them. I also have worked a lot on my distance races and keeping my endurance up." Even though Chesterton has big names like Pieroni, Whitaker and Wallar on their state roster, it doesn't seem to faze the Avon junior. "I believe we can definitely challenge Chesterton. We have a strong team and we also will have a strong showing next weekend at state." It has come down to a showdown between the North and the South. Jones lives by three very simple principles: Hard work, perseverance, and integrity. Jones is very simple about life and swimming. When we asked him if someone were to ask who is Parks Jones, he had this to say. "I would tell them Parks is someone who loves his team mates and loves to see them succeed just as much as himself. I also would say that Parks is someone who knows that hard work is necessary to take that step to the next level and I try and take that next step everyday at practice." |
Cody Taylor Steps Up In A Big Way
Taylor broke the school record in his two individual events in the Columbus North sectional.
Taylor won the 200 IM in a mouth dropping 1:48.99. If that isn't impressive enough, Taylor also took home the breaststroke crown in a blistering 54.55! Remember the 100 breaststroke state record is a 54.82 set by Tyler Lemert of Fort Wayne Concordia High School back in 2007. Taylor also help break 4 school records and played a part in getting two relays down to state. He also helped his team win the sectional title for the first time in 11 years. Taylor is arguably the fastest breaststroker in Indiana high school history. You can't just ignore a 54.55. Taylor swam against Chesterton super star Blake Pieroni last year in the 200 IM. Pieroni came out on top with a time of 1:48.86. But that was at the state meet, Taylor swam this at sectionals. Pieroni's time in the 200 IM at the LaPorte sectional was a 1:51.70. You can be sure Pieroni will drop time. But to achieve what Pieroni did in the state finals at a sectional is huge. This will be an amazing battle as these two continue to improve for the state meet. After sectionals, Taylor is definitely the man to beat in the breaststroke event at State. |