The impact of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps winning eight gold medal has reached all across mainstream America this summer, peaking the interest of swimmers and non-swimmers alike.
Locally, numbers of swimmers have increased in the Wabash Valley too, including the three Vigo County high school swimming and diving teams.
“I think we’re getting an Olympic rebound to tell you the truth,” chuckled North boys coach Randy Jensen. “Terre Haute Torpedoes, we probably picked up easily 15 percent new kids. We’re up to almost 300 kids with the high school kids [included].
“The Olympics … about every four years we see a little bit of a bump in the numbers. This year though, it’s been a little more than it has been in the past obviously, because of the eight gold medals [Michael] Phelps won in the Olympic Games.
“Because of these last Olympic games, people have a little bit more respect with some of the things that swimmers go through and understand it a little bit more. And that’s a good thing.”
A Phelps’ factor?
“Maybe a little bit,” countered Terre Haute South coach Jeff Thompson. “Our boys team has been growing the last six or seven years. This year is our largest number of boys. For the first time ever had more boys than girls, 32-29.
“[Phelps] really did help us a lot,” stated West Vigo girls coach Doug Tilford. “Even our numbers in diving have increased. We only had two divers last year, right now we have three boys and three girls.”
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The following are previews of the three Vigo County boys and girls swimming teams:
• Terre Haute North — The boys team will be headed by seniors John Craig Huster and junior Paul Morris, both state qualifiers a year ago in medley relay, according to Jensen.
Another pair of performers are expected to fill big shoes of graduated seniors.
Junior Luke Lakstins will be the No. 1 diver, replacing Ricky Combs. Junior Thomas Manning (100 breaststroke) will replace David Broughton who finished seventh in the state meet last year.
Others being counted on for the 27-man strong team (21 swimmers, 6 divers) are junior Chris Huster, John’s younger brother (sprint freestyle), sophomore Holden Barnes (distance freestyle), freshman Matt Guell (distance freestyle, butterfly) and senior Will Kline (50, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly).
“Obviously we want to win the sectional,” said Jensen. “We want to have a winning dual meet record. We just want to swim faster in general.”
Key returnees for the girls team are seniors Katie Guell (200, 500 free) and Emily Richards (100 back, 50 free). Guell placed 10th in the 500 free at last year’s state meet.
“Both are state qualifiers in the past and will be our two main cogs this year, both in the relays and individually,” said Jensen, speaking for girls coach John Newhouse. Newhouse accompanied Guell and Richards to a Grand Prix swimming event in Minneapolis last weekend.
Others expected to excel are sophomore Celeste Kline (500 free, 100 back), senior Leslie Britton (50, 100 free, 200 IM), junior Haley Tisdale (200 IM, 100 butterfly), sophomore Caroline Nichols (100 breast) and sophomore Ayla Walter (200, 500 free). All placed in the sectional last year.
Senior Stacy Cuthbertson and sophomore Megan Curley are their top two divers. “We have eight divers, somebody will break out of that group for the third spot,” Jensen noted.
“Our goals are about the same [as boys] … try to win the sectional, winning dual meet record and send a couple of relays and two or three individuals to the state meet,” Jensen said.
“It’s one of those deals where you want to get [to state], that ‘s the first step. Several of our girls have been there. Now we want to make sure they get there and place.”
• Terre Haute South — The boys team lost only a pair of seniors to graduation, Tyler Gertz — swimming collegiately at Purdue — and David Stockton, stated boys and girls coach Jeff Thompson.
Being heavily counted on is talented sophomore Addison Bray (breaststroke, IM), an All-American as a freshman. “We want to move him around in the lineup … have him also doing sprints and freestyles,” Thompson said.
Other big contributors are seniors Shane Weber (diving), Jordan Ellis (backstroke, sprint frees), plus juniors Daniel Card (sprint frees, relays), James Myers (all events), Matthew Shaver (butterfly, IM) and Thomas Weber (back, middle distance free).
Two freshmen to keep an eye on are V.J. Sakbun and Nolan Roach.
“I’d like to see how many relays we can get to the state tournament,” Thompson said. “If you have great relays, you have a great team. We’ll be hard to handle.”
Four seniors will lead the South girls, Megan Kendall, Kayelene Linkenheld, Caitilin Tincher and Alana Whitlock. “They all scored points for us in the sectional last year.”
Sophomore Cristina Elliott set the school record in the 100 free, and competed in three events at the state meet last year. Freshmen to watch include Mercedez Bray, sister of Addison, and Sarah Senseman. Top diver for the Braves is junior Chelsea Ford.
“Our goals are similar to the boys … be strong in relays, develop the ability to move around [events], and get to the state meet in February,” Thompson concluded.
• West Vigo — The boys team has no seniors and its top returnee is junior Shane Wycoff (diving, sprints, relays). “Shane was one place away from getting out of sectional last year,” said WV girls coach Doug Tilford, speaking for boys coach Dave Cooper.
Other leaders will be junior Matt Perkins (backstroke, middle distance), sophomore Jasper Shank (200, 500), and two freshmen, Cole Bennett (diving) and Jase Allsup (sprints, butterfly). Alsup set the middle school record in butterfly last year as an eighth grader.
“We feel good about the decent number of kids in our program now … double the number of last year,” Tilford said.
Two returning seniors for the 17-member girls team are Heather Switzer (middle distance) and Kelsey Debney (butterfly, IM). Also returning are sophomores Mary Roberts (butterfly, backstroke) and Emma Bird (200, 500).
The Vikings also have three new divers, senior Taylor Brown — on the team for the first time — along with sophomore Sarah Tennis and freshman Sveta Stott.
“It’s kind of a rebuilding year … we need the new girls to step up with so few returnees,” Tilford said. “We’ll know a lot more after we open our season on Thursday.”
High School
Winter Sports Preview: Phelps factor? More athletes take to swmming
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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