By TRIBUNE SPORTS STAFF
Alec Digard and Andrew Loshnowsky led the way as Maconaquah took top honors Saturday in the Western Boys Swimming and Diving Invitational.
Maconaquah totaled 113 points, Western followed with 105 and Northwestern (65) and Eastern (39) rounded out the four-team field.
“The guys worked extremely hard,” Maconaquah coach Brad McManus said. “One of our season goals was to win this and to come out on top was a great accomplishment for the program. We had several swims that were much better than our seed times and we had some that weren’t as good as our seed times, but as a team, the kids just came together to get every point we could get.”
Digard took individual wins in the 200-yard freestyle (1:59.09) and 500 freestyle (5:28.52).
“Derek Klepfer from Eastern was seeded several seconds ahead of him in both events,” McManus noted. “We talked before the meet about how he just needed to stay ahead of him or stay with him, then in the last 50 [yards], just sprint it and beat him out. He did that in both races and it worked out great. He personally scored four more points for our team than I expected.”
Digard also helped the Braves win the 200 medley relay. Parker Woods, Adam Gable, Digard and Travis Long posted a winning time of 1:49.54.
Individually, Long won the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:00.76. Also for the Braves, Loshnowsky took wins in the 200 individual medley (2:09.14) and 100 backstroke (59.84 seconds) and Brent Bowman won the 1-meter diving program with a score of 205.35.
Quadruple winner Seth Handy led runner-up Western. He took individual wins in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle with personal-best times of 23.08 and 50.50 seconds, respectively, and he helped the Panthers win two relays.
Handy, Brad Smith, Russ Showers and Tegan Nakanishi won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.80 and Handy, Smith, Eric Cashler and Nakanishi won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:34.70.
Also for the Panthers, Aaron Trost won the 100 breast stroke with a personal-best time of 1:11.73.
“We had some great swims,” Western coach Brad Bennett said. “Of the 25 individual performances we had, 17 were season-best times. I think this helped the boys understand how close the [Mid-Indiana Conference meet] is going to be this year and will help them realize what kind of work they are going to have to do to be able to bring home another conference title.”
Klepfer finished second in the 200 and 500 freestyle races to lead Eastern. Michael Vas had a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle for Northwestern.
Kokomo 112, Huntington North 74
Kokomo moved to 2-0 in dual meets with a win over North Central Conference foe Huntington North.
Jaymes Cardwell and Tylor Gauger finished as quadruple winners for the Katfish. Individually, Cardwell won the 50 freestyle (24.05 seconds) and 100 freestyle (52.07 seconds) and Gauger was tops in the 200 individual medley (2:02.31) and 500 freestyle (4:59.13). Both contributed to the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.
Tigh Lane and Josh Johnson rounded out the 200 medley relay team, which had a time of 1:49.02. Stephen Sehr and Sean Rolland rounded out the 400 freestyle relay team, which had a time of 3:31.04.
Also for the Kats, Sehr won the 200 freestyle (1:54.48), Lane won the 100 butterfly (1:02.06), Johnson was tops in the 100 breast stroke (1:08.46) and the team of Sehr, Rolland, Justin Whalen and Aaron Connolly won the 200 freestyle relay (1:54.48).
Mitchell Gauger placed second in the diving with 241.35 points.
Girls Swimming
Huntington North 103, Kokomo 79
Double winners Katie Hingst and Jessica Moore topped the Katfish in their loss. Hingst won the 200 freestyle (1:59.12) and 500 freestyle (5:19.43). Moore was tops in the 200 individual medley (2:29.21) and 100 butterfly (1:05.51).
Also for the Red and Blue, Kelsey Griffin won the 100 breast stroke (1:21.87) and Brittany Gauger and Brooke Lott finished 1-2 in the 1-meter diving competition. Gauger had a winning score of 229.85.
“We won some close races, and we lost some close races,” Brian Hindson said. “[It was a] good, hard effort after practice.”
Girls Basketball
Hamilton Heights 40, Peru 38
Jordan Gerbsch hit a layup with two seconds left to give Hamilton Heights its first MIC win.
“It was a nip-and-tuck game until the last bucket was made,” Heights coach Kurt Ogden said. “This is the type of game that you hate to lose, but we had our opportunities [to pull away].”
Heights was up 11-6 at the end of the first quarter, 16-10 at halftime and 25-24 after three quarters.
Caity Murdock led Heights with 15 points and Adara Van Dyke had eight points and 15 rebounds. Allison Greene led Peru with 13 points and Paige Blanton followed with 10 points.
The Huskies are 4-5 overall and 1-1 in league play while the Tigers dropped to 2-8 and 0-3.
Maconaquah 72, Cass 54
Deja Mattox scored 22 points, Kayla George scored 15, Samantha Black 13 and Savannah Sano nine to lead Maconaquah to a victory at Cass. The Braves improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the MIC. After posting leads of 15-12 after one quarter and 32-24 at halftime, the Braves opened up the game in the third quarter, taking a 15-point lead at 49-34 through three quarters.
“Their three top players, Mattox, George and Black, really just attacked the basket really well and although Mattox wasn’t shooting the [3-pointer] as often, she was certainly getting the inside points and getting to the free-throw line,” Cass coach Steve Ford said. “And then Kayla George just does an excellent job of taking people off the dribble. I thought that Maconaquah’s abilities to score from so many different sources was decisive.”
Ford credited Taylor DeHaven, who led Cass with 19 points, for consistently attacking Maconaquah’s defense. He was pleased with how Cass played, especially how the Braves (4-5, 0-2 MIC) dealt with Maconaquah’s defensive pressure.
“I think we played about as good as we can play,” Ford said. “We handled their press very well, at least in the first half. I was happy because that was something we worked hard on the last three days of the week. The other thing we did really well was be very active and look to score.”
On Tuesday, Cass hosts Delphi and Maconaquah hosts North Miami.
Wrestling
Marion Invitational
Oak Hill (225.5 points) bettered Tipton (208) for first place. Western followed in third with 187 points and Eastern came in seventh with 113.
Western had three champions: D.J. Shepherd (130), Trevor Dickey (145) and Luke Swigart (160).
“The three of them are all seniors and you kind of expect them to do that,” Western coach Chad Shepherd said. “We wrestled only 12 guys and we placed third. I wasn’t disappointed with that. Overall, we are getting better as a team, and we have to improve every week.”
Also for the Panthers, Logan Taylor (140), Mark McDermott (119), and Nick Lenahan (135) all placed third and Chris Hunt (189) and Mark Reeser (215) each had a fourth-place finish.
“Reeser wasn’t seeded, and it was a big day for him to finish fourth,” Chad Shepherd said. “He wrestled the No. 1 [seeded wrestler in the tournament] in the first match.”
Eastern coach Craig Standish also came away pleased.
“We finished seventh, and we were just 31/2 points out of fifth place,” Standish said. “We were close. We are not in the top three yet, but we are a young team. Hopefully, we will get there as the year goes on.”
The Comets’ Chad Barrett was champion at 125 pounds. Also for Eastern, Ryan McCauley (112) and Chad Coolbaugh (215) each placed third and Cody Young (119) placed fourth.
“Barrett spent less than three minutes on the mat,” Standish noted.
Rossville Invitational
Taylor’s grapplers went 1-3 at Rossville, topping the host squad 54-23 and falling to Carroll (42-40), Southern Wells and Pioneer (70-6). Cody Strunk posted the Titans’ top record for the day, going 3-1 at 145 pounds.
“The day went fairly well,” Taylor coach Justin Palmer said. “We’re still trying to fill a couple spots. The kids are improving every day and hopefully with a month off before our next meet we can wrestle well at the Tipton Invitational [Jan. 6].”
Carroll split its matches in the invitational. The Cougars defeated Rossville (65-11) and Taylor, but dropped decisions to Southern Wells (57-16) and Pioneer (66-18).
Sam Scharer (125) and Andrew Fritz (130) both went 4-0 for the Cougars.
Brebeuf Invitational
Northwestern placed seventh out of 16 teams in the invitational.
C. J. Hansen was a champion for the Tigers at 145 pounds. Travis Meney finished in second place at 140, and Brad Gillam was third at 171 pounds for Northwestern.
“All three wrestled outstanding [Saturday],” Northwestern coach Scott Miller said. “There was some really tough competition with several ranked wrestlers, and our young wrestlers got experience.”
Tribune sportswriters Bryan Gaskins,
Kenny Hetzler and Pedro Velazco
compiled this roundup.
