Mt. Vernon’s Anna Hiner takes off in the 100-yard freestyle event at last season’s Hoosier Heritage Conference Swimming Championship at New Palestine High School. In a dual meet Tuesday at New Pal, Hiner won multiple events in a Marauders’ victory.
The Daily Reporter File Photo
By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — A much-needed early season boost to the team’s confidence.
That’s what the Mt. Vernon boys and girls swimming and diving teams left the New Palestine Natatorium with on Tuesday night.
The boys defeated the Dragons handily, 103-82, while the girls edged out a 98-87 victory.
“It’s a big confidence boost for both the boys and the girls. We’re always looking to see where we’d rank, where we’d place, and where our competition is at,” Mt. Vernon head coach Brad Grieshop said. “New Pal has been such great friends of ours and always races well, so this was a great night for both the boys and girls.”
Combined, the Marauders took first place in 18 of the 24 events. The boys took home first in 10 of the 12 events, while the girls grabbed eight first-place finishes.
“They were racing great. It was a lot of strategy and time placement on events. I just needed to see some times because it all comes down to that at conference, sectional, and state. Where can we win and how many events can we get down to state,” Grieshop said. “So having these placements gives confidence to the kids. They know that we can do this and are getting closer to our goals, (that) is what you love to see as a coach.”
For New Palestine, head coach Chris Kingery liked the effort that his teams showed in what he likes to call their “grind” month.
“I think they looked strong. We’re in December, which is our grind month, and we’re just going to keep grinding and getting better all throughout the month,” Kingery said. “There are some spots where we probably missed out on some points, but that’s something we’re going to keep working on throughout December.”
Even with new-look rosters in each of the relays, the Marauders were able to sweep all three events on the boys side.
Ethan Murphy, Camden Cave, Brady Gray, and Adison Mayes followed up the girls’ victory in the 200-yard medley relay, winning with a time of 1:45.34. Cave and Mayes joined Matthew Garey and Eli Webster in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a winning time of 1:37.49. Webster, Gray, Garey and Murphy then combined to close out the meet by winning the 400-yard free with a time of 3:37.12.
“That was all just strategy wise,” Grieshop said. “Knowing the numbers of the teams and how the points work, how do you strategize to maximize every swimmer and get points in every event. It was just strictly strategy and where we could score the most.”
That group also took first in nearly all of their individual events.
Garey won the 200-yard free and 100-yard breaststroke, Gray added firsts in the 50-yard free and 100-yard butterfly, Webster won the 200-yard IM, Cave won the 100-yard freestyle, and Murphy won the 100-yard backstroke.
The Dragons were able to grab victories in the 500-yard freestyle and 1-meter diving. Dawson Lynch was the 500 freestyle winner with a time of 5:35.07 and Aiden Stephens’ score of 174.5 was atop the diving leaderboard.
Unlike the boys, the Mt. Vernon girls had to sweat out their victory.
After New Palestine’s 200-yard relay A team of Sullie Leavell, Kyleigh Turner, Chloe Siler and Adrianna Huston grabbed first, and the B team of Lillie Abernathy, Cadyn Brown, Emma Snyder, and Rachel Hamilton grabbed second place, the Marauders showed some resilience, winning the final three races to secure the win.
“Yeah, that was kind of a surprise, but everyone is always working hard and trying to get better every day,” Kingery said.
Catherine Hiner won the 100-yard backstroke, Calista Smith won the 100-yard breaststroke, and Anna Hiner and Emme Grubbs joined those two to win the 400-yard freestyle.
“It’s phenomenal to see it. This is the biggest our girls team has been in the last two or three years, and we have a great core of junior and senior girls,” Grieshop said. “They’ve seen the ups and downs, so to see them respond knowing that we’ve got the numbers this year and that opportunity to be better, faster, and possibly break some school records. It’s just cool to see their personalities and confidence growing.”
Along with their finishes down the stretch, Anna Hiner, Smith and Grubbs each took home other first-place finishes.
Smith won the 200-yard freestyle, Anna Hiner won the 200-yard IM and 100-yard freestyle, and Grubbs won the 100-yard butterfly.
Riley Nielsen took home first for the Marauders in the 1-meter diving with a score of 172.50.
The Marauders are back in action Saturday at the Shelbyville Relays, while the Dragons face off against both New Castle and Eastern Hancock on Thursday.
