Two days after falling to crosstown rival Columbus North, the Columbus East swim teams rallied for dominating victories in their home pool Thursday night against Hoosier Hills Conference foe Jennings County.
The Olympian girls were victorious 126-49, while the East boys won 111-65.
“We did the same thing we did last meet, which is, we’re looking for best times. We’re looking for improvement,” East girls coach Jill Arnholt said. “The girls showed that tonight. They’re tired, and they still came through and had some best times. They are just having a good time, and that’s what’s important.”
The Olympian girls won all 12 events, started off by the 200-yard medley relay team of Jennifer Utterback, Marin Wieneke, Maggie Johnson and Elizabeth Proffit with a time of 1 minute, 59.12 seconds.
Utterback followed with victories in the 200 freestyle (2:11.25) and 500 freestyle (5:48.13) and teamed with Johnson, Maddy Ping and Proffitt to win the 400 freestyle relay (3:56.89).
Proffitt won the 200 individual medley (2:29.62), and Johnson claimed first in the 50 freestyle (26.28) and 100 freestyle (57.88). Karissa Miller won the 100 butterfly (1:09.22) and 100 backstroke (1:07.04), while also winning the 200 freestyle relay (1:56.39) with teammates Marin Wieneke, Cameron Kelly and Kendall Schaefer.
Emily Walker won the diving competition with 99.95 points. Marin Wieneke placed first in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.19).
The East boys team welcomed back senior swimmer Evan Wieneke, who raced in his first meet of the year after recovering from offseason surgery. Wieneke put together a successful meet helping two relay teams win — the 200 freestyle relay team with Colby Hertle, Justin Borowski and Mason Curry (1:44.30) and the 400 freestyle relay with Chad Kelly, Zach Statler and Ryan Singer (3:35.86).
Kelly, Statler and Singer were joined by Branson Young to open the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay (1:49.69). Kelly also claimed first in 50 freestyle (24.54) and 100 freestyle (54.74).
Other victories for the Olympians came from DJ Rhodes in diving (230.95), Young in the 100 backstroke (1:08.85) and Singer in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.72).
“Once again we had almost complete (personal records), and these guys are swimming tired. Each meet is kind of a step to get to where they want to go at the end,” East boys coach Dave Fribley said. “And (Jennings coach Chaz Wilson) has got two or three kids that are just like our kids. And that was a big thing for tonight’s meet, for us to go after his top kids and have PR’s doing it.”
The Panthers found victories by Trey Hundley in the 200 freestyle (1:57.21) and 500 freestyle (5:28.36). Peyton Moore placed first in the 200 IM (2:06.25) and 100 butterfly (56.91).
The team of Beau Harriman, Hundley, Daniel Hoffman and Moore narrowly came in second to end the night in the 400 freestyle relay (3:36.26).
“I was real excited about the last relay and the boys almost getting a win there,” Jennings coach Chaz Wilson said. “We need to improve on our turns and some small things. We had some girls swim lifetime best times and also a couple boys, so overall as a team I thought we swam great.”
The Panther girls were led by second-place finishes from Reagan Brown in the 200 IM (2:30.96) and 100 breaststroke (1:17.14). Brown was accompanied by Fizzie Kirchner, Paige Hoffman and Grace Kirchner to place second in the 200 medley relay (2:15.63). Leah Harriman placed second in the 50 freestyle (29.47), while helping the Kirchner sisters and Brown place second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:58.55).
