The month of December is a grind for high school swimmers, who often log thousands of practice yards even on the morning of a meet.
So neither Center Grove nor host Whiteland was anywhere near late-season form for Tuesday night’s dual meet, which the Trojans won both halves of thanks in part to their superior depth.
Center Grove’s girls pulled away for a 108-75 victory, while the boys rolled to a 132-54 win.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
At this point in the season, Trojan coach Jim Todd isn’t necessarily as concerned with whether his team wins or loses.
“I really don’t focus on the score; I just want to see what the kids can do time-wise,” he said. “Racing is fun — that’s why we do it, I hope — but at the same time, I was a little bit disappointed in a few of our events that we really didn’t race like I thought we should have. But it was fun.”
The Trojan girls opened with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay and got individual wins from Devin Trammell in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly. Emma Pawlik won the 50 freestyle, Kenzie Mills took first in diving and Caitlin Hubbs won the 100 breaststroke.
Whiteland’s Avery Herring pulled out victories in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, while Addison Daily (100 free) and Alex Halle (500 free) were also winners for the Warriors, who claimed the 400 freestyle relay.
The two teams tied in the 200 free relay, with both squads hitting the wall in 1:47.24.
For the Center Grove boys, Tony Gipson took first in both the 100 and 200 freestyle and swam on two of the Trojans’ three winning relays.
Also earning individual victories were Ethan Martin (200 IM), Brady Ferguson (50 freestyle), Ben Mitchell (butterfly), Garrett Crist (500 free) and Justin Xia (breaststroke).
Whiteland’s Collin Barton took first in the boys diving competition, and Nicholas Klenner added a victory in the 100 backstroke.
Warriors coach Alec DeWitt was somewhat disappointed with the final score in the girls meet, which he thought would be closer — but he was still happy to have another strong team to use as an early measuring stick.
“Center Grove is always good,” DeWitt said. “Their boys team is phenomenal, so it was good for our boys to see — we swam a couple of on events for our boys just so they could see those other kids. (Klenner) went best time because he was swimming against other fast people. So it was great for our boys to see these guys just for that reason.”
The two teams will face off with one another in a week and a half at the Johnson County meet.
