After beating Seymour by 33 points in Saturday’s Hoosier Hills Conference girls swim meet, Columbus East went into Thursday night’s dual match with the Owls as a clear favorite.
Although Seymour made things a little closer this time around, the Olympians held on for a 96-87 victory. The boys meet also was a close one, with the Owls prevailing 94-89.
“We beat them at conference, but I told the girls they really needed to go after it tonight and not take anything for granted,” East girls coach Jill Arnholt said. “We had best times in a lot of events, so the girls really looked good, even though they’re tired. We’ve had a short week, but we had a lot of practices, so they’re kind of dragging, but they came out of it really strong and came out of it really well tonight.”
The Olympians won nine of the 12 girls events. Marin Wieneke took the 200-yard freestyle (2 minutes, 11.33 seconds) and 100 freestyle (57.71) and Karissa Miller captured the 50 freestyle (25.99) and 100 backstroke (1:03.92) to lead the way.
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“I know a lot of girls had best times today,” Miller said. “I was really proud of everyone. I had a lot of girls come up to me and just hug me because I went some of my personal-best times. It was really awesome tonight.”
Wieneke, who was the HHC champion in the 100 breaststroke and runner-up in the 50 freestyle, set a personal record in the 200 freestyle, an event she rarely swims.
“I think everybody swam really well,” Wieneke said. “Jill switched it up a little bit, but everybody still performed to their best of their ability.”
Also winning individual events for the East girls were Cloie McDonald in the diving competition (211.45), Ellie Proffitt in the 100 butterfly (1:07.03) and Jennifer Utterback in the 500 freestyle (5:49.92). The Olympians took the 200 medley (1:59.62) and 200 freestyle (1:47.60) relays.
The Olympian boys matched the Owls with six event wins, but Seymour had just a little more depth.
Individual winners for East were Chad Kelly in the 50 freestyle (23.89), John Roberts in diving (142.05), Mason Curry in the 100 butterfly (58.47) and Justin Borowski in the 500 freestyle (5:39.25). East also won the 200 freestyle (1:37.88) and 400 freestyle (3:39.61) relays.
“The 200 free at the beginning of the meet, we didn’t place very well, and that’s basically the difference,” East assistant boys coach Mark Owens said. “But I think the boys swam really well. We had a lot of PRs again this time, and they continue to get better and better. Considering we have a lot of inexperienced swimmers, they really did it tonight.”
