Columbus East coach Doug Trueblood cheers on East’s Kira VanValkenburg as she competes in the 500-yard freestyle during a meet against Jennings County at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
The Columbus East swimmers took care of business Monday against Jennings County.
Many Olympians swimmers saw much improvement on their times to earn the sweep in the girls and boys meets. The East girls won 116-64, and the Olympian boys won 123-48.
The winners for the East girls included Cassidy Furnish in the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 45.52 seconds) and 100 butterfly (1:09.96), Saya Hauser in the 50 freestyle (28.90), Gabbie Meier in the diving (206.75) and Kira VanValkenburg in the 500 freestyle (6:20.54). Meier, Ali Trueblood, VanValkenburg and Hauser wonn the 200 freestyle relay (1:57.24); and Furnish, Claire Brooks, Meier and Josie Havenaar took the the 400 freestyle relay (4:12.00).
Second-place finishers were Havenaar, Trueblood, Furnish and Brooks in the 200 medley relay (2:07.69); Brooks in the 200 freestyle (2:17.14); VanValkenburg in the 200 individual medley (2:40.03); Grace Lykins in diving (125.85), Brooks in the 100 butterfly (1:10.90); Havenaar in the 100 freestyle (1:01.78); Maddie Beyer, Olivia Klinge, Lykins and Nicole Fernendez in the 200 freestyle relay (2:09.31); Havenaar in the 100 backstroke (1:10.29) and Meier in the 100 breaststroke (1:20.69).
Third-place finishers included Hannah Dean, Jocelynn Lambert, Lykins and Fernendez in the 200 medley relay (2:32.97); Grace Hale in the 50 freestyle (30.00); Sophie Krueger in diving (121.90); Hauser in the 100 freestyle (1:05.46); Hale in the 500 freestyle (6:29.25); Dean in the 100 backstroke (1:17.43); Trueblood in the 100 breaststroke (1:23.01) and Beyer, Dean, VanValkenburg and Hauser in the 400 freestyle relay (4:37.80).
“They came out and competed. There’s a lot of really good swimmers on that Jennings County team, on the girls side, especially,” East coach Doug Trueblood said. “Our girls went out and competed with them… I’m happy about that because that’s what we have to do when we get to conference. We have to go out and race those girls and go out and try to close the gap.”
The winners for the East boys were Ethan Hall, Brady Beyer, Misha Machavariani and Cavan Stilson in the 200 medley relay (1:45.52); Judah Nickoll in the 200 freestyle (1:51.42); Beyer in the 200 IM (1:58.74); Gavin Day in diving (185.25); Machavariani in the 100 butterfly (54.27); Stilson in the 500 freestyle (5:17.32); Gui Silva, Nickoll, Rylan Perkins and Keaton Stephenson in the 200 freestyle relay (1:47.87); Nickoll in the 100 backstroke (56.84); Beyer in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.04) and Stilson, Machavariani, Nickoll and Beyer in the 400 freestyle relay (3:24.03).
Second-place finishers included Eli Isaacs, Jesse Isaacs, Perkins and Spencer Erfmeier in the 200 medley relay (1:58.38); Machavariani in the 200 IM (2:05.24); Stephenson in the 50 freestyle (24.75) and 100 freestyle (53.89); Perkins in the 100 butterfly (1:00.98); Ethan Hall in the 100 backstroke (1:03.57); Jesse Isaacs in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.21) and Eli Isaacs, Erfmeier, Hall and Stephenson in the 400 freestyle relay (3:51.23).
Third-place finishers were Stilson in the 200 freestyle (1:59.15); Hall in the 50 freestyle (25.80); Perkins in the 100 freestyle (1:00.58); Erfmeier in the 500 freestyle (5:34.46) and Jon Sylva, Ivan Bondar, Mason Bean and Tommy Eppley in the 200 freestyle relay (2:11.99).
“The boys swam really well. We swam in some different events tonight, but each one of the boys, they came out and they raced hard, and that’s what you have to do,” Trueblood said. “Early in the season is get out and go hard and see where you’re because we got to build. We got to build from here on into the end because everybody else is going to get faster.”
Winners for the Jennings girls included Avery Witt, Tatum Brown, Alyssa Monnin and Hannah Webster in the 200 medley relay (2:04.06); Witt in the 200 IM (2:29.61) and 100 backstroke (1:06.62); Brown in the 100 freestyle (59.29) and 100 breaststroke (1:16.89). Second-place finishers were Monnin in the 50 freestyle (29.17; Lydia Ponsler in the 500 freestyle (6:25.45) and Ponsler, Webster, Witt and Brown in the 400 freestyle relay (4:13.100). Third-place finishers included Ponsler in the 200 freestyle (2:24.30); Webster in the 200 IM (2:44.77) and Monnin in the 100 butterfly (1:12.89).
For the Panther boys, Levi Marsh won the 50 freestyle (24.18) and 100 freestyle (53.55). Second-place finishers were Noah McFall in the 200 freestyle (1:58.79) and 500 freestyle (5:27.63) and Rylan Campbell, Preston Harriman, Dawson Leak and McFall in the 200 freestyle relay (1:52.48). Third-place finishers included Marsh, Jonathan Jones, Campbell and Leak in the 200 medley relay (2:05.73); Jones in the 200 IM (2:22.04); Harriman in the 100 backstroke (1:16.43); Campbell in the 100 breaststroke (1:23.30) and Harriman, Jones, Marsh and McFall in the 400 freestyle relay (3:52.29).
“It’s been an interesting season so far. Our production in practice has ramped up right before this practice,” Jennings coach Morgan Webster said. “Seeing a lot of PRs tonight is really something that I’m glad to see, especially when we’re doing so much yardage during the week.”
