NEW PALESTINE — With a large contingent of teams, coaches, and staff wearing purple and yellow “Crushing Cancer with Coach Em” t-shirts in support of Greenfield-Central girls swimming coach Emily Logan, Coach Em’s team crushed the competition.
Saturday at New Palestine Natatorium, with coach Logan — cleared by her doctors to be in attendance — watching from the official scoring table, the Cougars won an emotional 11th straight sectional championship under the longtime coach.
The Cougars point total of 537 nearly doubled that of second-place New Palestine (269).
G-C won nine of 12 events and set six school and six sectional records. Logan was named the New Palestine Sectional Coach of the Year.
“Oh my word, they were phenomenal,” Logan said after the meet, her voice cracking with emotion. “I could not have asked for more, six sectional records, multiple school records broken. They swam incredible all day long. It was pure joy. That last relay was the icing on the cake. A 3:33 [in the 400-yard freestyle relay] that was a great team that set it last year at state [and they beat it by seven seconds].”
The Friday before Christmas, the Logans found out that Emily had cancer.
A CT scan showed a number of cancerous masses and lesions. The cancer is called leiomyosarcoma, or LMS. It’s a type of rare cancer that grows in the smooth muscles.
She is scheduled to do six rounds of chemotherapy where she does one week of treatments and then takes two weeks off. On Monday she was to begin her second round of chemotherapy.
Logan was unable to attend the girls and boys conference meets last month, but got clearance Friday to come to the sectional. She had an emotional in-person visit with her team — her first time around her team in three weeks — at Friday’s practice, and they were more than ready to compete on Saturday.
“It was amazing [having her here],” Greenfield-Central senior Cecelia Duffy Johnson said. “Even without her here, we knew she’d be cheering us on no matter what. I think it would break her if her absence would cause our team to fall apart, but we’re stronger than cancer.”
The Greenfield Community Aquatic Team [GCAT, the Greenfield club swim program] made the “Crushing Cancer With Coach Em” shirts. It reads “Crushing Cancer with Coach Em, and includes a bible verse on the front. And reads, ‘A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life’ on the back.
Emily and her husband, Mark, took over the GCAT program in 2012 when they were named coaches of the girls and boys high school swimming programs.
Greenfield-Central High School has also made t-shirts in support of coach Logan. They’ve currently raised over $2,200 in sales with all proceeds going to the Logan’s cancer fight.
New Palestine head coach Chris Kingery said he bought over 60 of the GCAT shirts for his workers, team and staff for Saturday’s sectional meet.
“We normally do a sectional shirt, but there was no bigger cause than this for coach Emily,” Kingery said. “We wanted her to know how much she’s loved and how she’s such a big part of the swimming community, and we wanted to support her. To see her here today was awesome. I was happy she could be here with her girls and watch them swim.”
Logan said she’s been overwhelmed by the support.
Her sister has created a “Crushing Cancer With Coach Em” GoFundMe page for people that want to donate to help the family. It has raised over $35,000 with a goal of reaching $50,000.
“That’s what I love about swimming,” Emily said. “I sent [coach Kingery] a text that I was going to be able to come and was there a way I can kind of be away from everyone and he said, ‘I got you covered. Don’t worry about.’”
Kingery had seats set up in the timing and scoring area reserved for both Emily and Mark, who is now coaching swimming at Olivet Nazarene in Illinois.
“I can’t say enough,” Emily added of the support. “New Pal, all of these shirts, everyone of their boys team has one on that are timers today. All of their staff that is working has them on. They came out of the woodwork. I heard they bought over 60 shirts, they’re extremely supportive.
“Their kids wrote me tons of notes supporting me. We all go against each other, but we’re friends and we’re all from one county that support each other. [Mt. Vernon coach] Brad [Grieshop] and his wife came to my house and brought what they call a ‘battle basket’ with lots of stuff. [Brad’s] wife is constantly sending me uplifting things. I can’t say enough great things. There is always a rivalry, but when it comes to things like this we’re a family. They truly are taking care of me.”
Her team gave her an unforgettable day Saturday.
In the opening race, Caroline Felver, Sonja Jahrsdoerfer, Taylor Parsons and Josie Kinnaman won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:51.94.
Selah Vahle followed with a school and sectional record in winning the 200 freestyle in 1:55.07, breaking the mark set by Logan’s daughter, Carley Logan, now an assistant coach for the team.
Alyssa Osborn won the third event of the day, the 200 IM in 2:08.97.
And right before the meet took a break for the diving competition, Rachel Stutz set a school and sectional record in a victorious swim in the 50 freestyle. She touched the wall in 24.01 seconds.
Stutz added another school and sectional record in winning the 100 freestyle in 52.18 seconds. She beat the record set last year by G-C grad Norah Johnson (52.67).
Taylor Parsons set a new sectional record in winning the 100 butterfly in 57.29, besting the 2020 record set by G-C’s Megan Coffin. She also set a school record with a swim of 59.09 in the 100 backstroke to place third.
Both 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams set school and sectional records.
The 200 team of Osborn, Vahle, Stutz and Duffy Johnson won in 1:37.54, about 1.5 seconds better than the record-setting 2023 G-C team.
And, the 400 free team closed out the meet with an amazing swim of 3:33.29. Duffy Johnson, Vahle, Stutz and Osborn beat the record set by G-C’s 2022 group by seven seconds.
“Our team pushes each other in practice and when we come here we’re ready and we’re focused on winning,” Osborn said. “[It has] definitely been hard this season, and hard on me especially. But, our team has tried to see the good parts of it, in the fact that [coach Logan] was able to come here and see us swim today. It helps to focus on the positive things even when it’s sad like this.
“It was so nice [to see her], I think it helped push our team to go even faster. Seeing her happy and knowing that she’s here to watch it helped me be like, ‘I want to do this for her.’”
All event winners will advance to this week’s state meet. In the 100-yard breaststroke, both Osborn and second-place Jahrsdoerfer, who made it on state-standard time (1:05.74) will swim at Friday’s state prelims at the IU Natatorium.
“This year has definitely been different for these kids,” Ben Felver, the first-year G-C boys coach who has been handling the girls too since Logan was diagnosed with cancer. “The way that they swim, honestly, is a testament to both what Mark and Emily have done for a long time in setting that strong foundation, but also a testament to the kind of kid we have.
“At no point during this season were they ever deterred from, these are the goals, this is what we are going to achieve, what we can achieve, and still what Emily expects them to achieve, despite the battle she is going through. She at no point let them use that as an excuse.”
There could be more county representation at the state meet. Four divers, including sectional champion Isabelle Tull from New Palestine, and runner-up Kersey Hudson and fourth-place finisher Avery Davis, both of Greenfield-Central, will compete Tuesday at the Plainfield Regional in hopes of making it on to the state finals.
Coach Logan will not be able to attend this week’s state finals. While her team is fighting for spots on the podium, she’ll be home continuing her fight against cancer.
“I said to my doctor (Friday), We’re here to fight. Period,” Logan said. “Whatever it is, we’re here to fight. Mark has always done health coaching stuff on the side, and research over the years. I truly believe God put that in place and in motion far before all of this happened. We have revamped my entire diet, the different supplements I’m taking we’re trying to fight it from as many angles as possible. I’m a fierce competitor and I don’t back down easy.
“You stay positive and keep fear out of your mind,” she added. “God is my center and where I go to every day before I start my day and as that fear creeps in, He is my one true solid. And I know that. That makes it a little easier every day. I’m truly blessed. I thank God literally daily for all the different people. I could not do this by myself.”
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2024 New Palestine Girls Swimming and Diving Sectional
Team scores: Greenfield-Central 537, New Palestine 269, Mt. Vernon 265, New Castle 210, Richmond 175, Centerville 156, Connersville 145, Shelbyville 115, Eastern Hancock 87, Seton Catholic 57, Hagerstown 50.
Individual Finals
200-yard medley relay: Greenfield-Central (Caroline Felver, Sonja Jahrsdoerfer, Taylor Parsons, Josie Kinnaman);1:51.94
200-yard freestyle: Selah Vahle, Greenfield-Central;1:55.07
200-yard IM: Alyssa Osborn, Greenfield-Central;2:08.97
50-yard freestyle: Rachel Stutz, Greenfield-Central;24.01 seconds
1-meter diving: Isabelle Tull, New Palestine;359.65 points
100-yard butterfly: Taylor Parsons, Greenfield-Central;57.29
100-yard freestyle: Rachel Stutz, Greenfield-Central;52.18
500-yard freestyle: Olivia Owens, New Castle;5:12.68
200-yard freestyle relay: Greenfield-Central (Alyssa Osborn, Selah Vahle, Rachel Stutz, Cecelia Duffy Johnson);1:37.54
100-yard backstroke: Sydney Mathews, New Castle;57.28
100-yard breaststroke: Alyssa Osborn, Greenfield-Central;1:05.58
400-yard freestyle relay: Greenfield-Central (Cecelia Duffy Johnson, Selah Vahle, Rachel Stutz, Alyssa Osborn);3:33.29
