Warriors sweep Braves, Woodmen

For the Daily Journal

Whiteland boys and girls swimming coach Marci Whitford likes what she sees in her second season as coach.

In Thursday night’s meet scored as double duals at Indian Creek, the Warrior boys edged Indian Creek 52-50 and topped Greenwood 76-26. Whiteland’s girls nipped Indian Creek 49-48 and beat Greenwood by the same 76-26 score.

“It was a great win. This group has come together in such an amazing way,” Whitford said. “The team spirit and the energy they bring to every single meet whether we’re winning a race or losing a race. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

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The Indian Creek boys topped Greenwood 57-44, and the girls defeated Greenwood 60-38.

“They’re more confident, and they trained hard all summer and all fall,” Whitford said. “They’re becoming a force to be reckoned with. We’ve got so many kids who are believing in the program and loving it. They’re putting their heart and soul into it, and it’s showing.”

Indian Creek coach Brad Smith was surprised how close his swimmers came to toppling the Warriors.

“I didn’t really not expect this at all,” Smith said. “Whiteland is a pretty experienced and pretty big team. We just didn’t have the depth, so I didn’t think we could compete with them at all, but our kids really stepped up, especially as tired as we are. We put the emotions aside and really came out racing. We were kind of flat at first but came back in the second half of the meet.”

Smith said the girls were particularly excited about setting a school record when they won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:44.53, breaking the old mark of 1:45.1 set in 2002.

“They’ve been trying to get that for a while,” Smith said. “For us to get that record in midseason is a pretty good testament of their hard work.”

Members of the Braves’ 200 free relay are Bella Ratzlaff, Sam Keymon, Lexy Burge and Alexis Wilhoit.

Wilhoit also captured the 100 freestyle in 56.25 and and 100 backstroke in 1:04.75.

Indian Creek had two other double winners in the girls portion: Payton Allison in the 100 butterfly (1:06.57) and 500 freestyle (5:30.70) and Lori McCormick in the 200 individual medley (2:20.01) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.14). Also winning for Indian Creek was Ratzlaff in the 50 free (26.06).

Whiteland girls winners were Kylie Perry (200 free, 2:03.80); the 200 medley relay (Perry, Kenna Gough, Lissy Vanette, Averie Myers) and 400 free relay (Vanette, Riley Burnsode, Calista Mason and Victoria Petriskey).

Greenwood’s Jade Hensley won the 1-meter diving.

Tucker Brock, the Braves’ boys individual double winner, set personal bests in the 100 butterfly in 53.66 seconds and 200 individual medley in 2:05.79.

“We swam great, and despite our numbers we’re going to do great this season,” Brock said.

Brock joined Nolan Reed, Chase Smith and Danny Carlson on the winning 200 medley relay team and Reed, Cody Hart and Clay Key on the winning 400 free relay team. Indian Creek’s winning 200 free relay members were Key, Hart, Smith and Danny Carlson.

Reed was victorious in the 100 backstroke (54.97).

Winners for the Whiteland boys were Matthew Kovacs (200 free, 1:54.13); Brenden Gough (500 free, 5:04.07), James Woolner (100 breaststroke, 1:11.77) and Colin Barton (1-meter diving).

Greenwood’s Noah Korsegi won the 50 freestyle in 24:10.