Franklin’s final home boys and girls swimming meet against rival Whiteland on Thursday was pretty much an aquatic laboratory.
Almost an experiment.
Franklin did what it was expected to do, and that’s win both meets, with the fifth-ranked girls taking a 113-73 win and the boys team, ranked seventh, winning 106-73, but head coach Zach DeWitt played chef and mixed up the ingredients a bit by switching up swimmers in different events.
“This meet was kind of an opportunity for the boys and girls to show their skills in something other than their main events,” said DeWitt. “In some cases, maybe it will kind of be what they swim in the sectionals due to some of the good performances we had.”
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And there were some good performances for the Grizzly Cubs on both sides.
The Franklin boys team won nine events to Whiteland’s three.
It was a bit closer in event wins for the girls, as Franklin took seven to the Warriors’ five.
Junior Barrett Daily won two individual events for the Grizzly Cubs, taking the 50 and 100 freestyle. Daily was also a part of the winning 200-yard medley relay.
Other individual winners for the Franklin boys included Max Kramer in the 200 free, Ethan Pheifer in the 200 IM, Mac Ratzlaff in the 100 butterfly and Drake Keller, who won the diving competition.
The Grizzly Cubs also swept all the relays.
Whiteland’s winners were Wyatt Sell in the 500 freestyle, Sam Udrasols in the 100 backstroke and Cyler Nelis in the 100 breaststroke.
For Franklin, Sarah Hoffman won the 200 IM and was on the winning 400-yard free relay, while Lucy Ho took the 50 free. Allison Lacy won the 100 butterfly and was a part of the winning 200 medley relay effort. Paige Lawrence won the 100 freestyle, and Gracey Payne took the 100 backstroke and was also on the 200 medley relay.
Whiteland’s Addison Daily was the only multiple individual winner, taking first in the 100 breast and 500 free. She was also the anchor on the Warriors’ winning 200-yard freestyle relay.
Garrett Kennedy won the 200 freestyle for Whiteland and Olivia Holmes won the diving event.
DeWitt said that despite the changes, this was something the Cubs wanted to win.
“It’s not that this meet was an afterthought, but we certainly made sure that our focus continues to be on the sectional and state rounds,” said DeWitt. “I feel confident in their abilities.”
Franklin is liking its chances when the sectionals come up in a few weeks. DeWitt likes how his boys team, in particular, is improving.
“We had a lot of girls step up in events and impress,” DeWitt said. “In terms of the boys, a lot of our depth is slowly progressing. Maybe not quite as quickly as some of them would like, but it’s nice to know that we’re starting to hit our stride a bit more going into the championship season.
“We’re putting our focus into that and see if we can’t punch above our weight class.”
