Dathan Wolf
Tuesday night’s regular-season finale was a tuneup for some big upcoming meets for the Columbus East swimmers.
For the Olympian boys, it was the final meet before Saturday’s Hoosier Hills Conference meet, which they are hosting. For the East girls, it was the final tuneup before the sectional, which will be Feb. 3 and 5 at Columbus North.
Both Olympian teams cruised to lopsided victories over a Greensburg squad that was small in numbers. The East boys win 126-46, and the girls prevailed 139-33.
“We swam a few off events,” East boys coach Doug Trueblood said. “We had a few events that some guys that will be swimming these on Saturday because they haven’t swam them in awhile, and I wanted them to get some races in before Saturday’s conference meet.”
Dathan Wolf won the 50-yard freestyle (23.15 seconds) and 100 backstroke (57.50), and Misha Machavariani took the 100 butterfly (56.75) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.10) to led the Olympian boys.
“I’m a little disappointed with some of my times,” Wolf said. “Some of them were drops, but I guess I was just expecting a little more out of myself than I could cash out today. Maybe I’ll see if I can get that 100 back record to fall.”
Also for the boys Judah Nickoll captured the 200 freestyle (1:54.35), Todd Hundley won the 200 individual medley (2:14.24), Gavin Day took the diving competition (152.30) and Cavan Stilson captured the 500 freestyle (5:32.79). East swept the 200 medley (1:50.62), 200 freestyle (1:44.92) and 400 freestyle (3:39.26) relays.
“We’ve had some really good swims the last three meets,” Trueblood said. “They’re swimming tired still a little bit, but they’re still dropping time, so I’m really happy with what they’re doing.”
Gabbie Meier led the girls with wins in the 200 IM (2:36.12) and in diving (212.60).
“This meet was a little crazy,” Meier said. “That was my first time ever swimming the 200 IM. I didn’t really expect my time to be like that. I just really tried to push myself during the breaststroke because I’m not as strong in backstroke.”
Other individual winners were Kira VanValkenburg in the 200 freestyle (2:30.73), Kerigan Greathouse in the 50 freestyle (27.67), Maddie Beyer in the 100 butterfly (1:21.05), Claire Brooks in the 100 freestyle (1:03.31), Karissa Miller in the 500 freestyle (5:50.15), Josie Havenaar in the 100 backstroke (1:08.55) and Ellie Proffitt in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.98). The Olympians also swept the 200 medley (2:09.94), 200 freestyle (1:48.59) and 400 freestyle (4:13.19) relays.
“We had some girls who hadn’t swam certain things, so we wanted to get them in there and get times for them,” East girls coach Jill Arnholt said. “We pretty much have the sectional lineup nailed down, but we’re just making sure. They had a lot of fun tonight swimming different events.””
Saturday’s HHC boys meet will begin with the diving at 9 a.m. Swimming begins at 1 p.m.
Trueblood hopes East can challenge Seymour for the runner-up spot behind favorite Floyd Central.
“Floyd is going to be tough; Seymour is going to be tough,” Trueblood said. “We’re definitely in the running we can compete for a couple individual event wins.”
