By Craig Pearson
BROWNSBURG — It was a historic day for Terre Haute South swimming Saturday in the Brownsburg Natatorium, and coach Jeff Thompson and the Braves were enjoying every minute of it.
South won its first sectional championship in the sport with 264 points, holding off three-time defending champ Zionsville by 15 points.
“You know in your heart you can do it, you believe in the boys. But until you get the trophy in your hands, it doesn’t become real. It’s about to become real,” Thompson said before jumping into the pool alongside senior Matt Shaver and the entire South team.
Thompson held the sectional trophy above water, celebrating after his team captured four victories in the 12-event meet.
Shaver, who advanced to the state finals as part of the second-place 200-yard medley relay, said the Braves set the goal of winning a team championship.
“We’ve been working for this all season and we knew what we had to do to get it done: Work hard, swim fast, be ourselves, swim faster than we were seeded,” Shaver said. “We took care of business.”
South junior phenom Addison Bray, who has made an Olympic cut time in the 100 breaststroke, broke the sectional record in the 200 individual medley to notch South’s first win of the day.
Senior Brett Glendening followed that up with a close win in the 50 free, which Shaver said was the highlight of the meet.
“The best event was an event I didn’t swim,” Shaver said. “I loved watching win the 50 freestyle. It brought everyone back to life.”
Thompson said Glendening just “found another gear” to pull out the win. He held off North’s Chris Huster by 13-hundredths of a second.
“There’s this one dude [Terre Haute North’s Chris Huster] that beat me three times this season. I just wanted to beat him so bad,” Glendening said.
Following the freestyle sprint was the one-meter diving finals, which West Vigo senior Shane Wyocff won in dominant fashion. He totaled 451.5 points, while second-place Luke Lakstins of Terre Haute North had 376.
“My approach and my technique have improved. And my entries are smoother,” said Wycoff, who was fourth last year. Wycoff will compete Tuesday in the diving regional in an attempt to qualify for Saturday’s state meet in the IUPUI Natatorium for the second straight year.
South’s third victory was in the 200 freestyle relay. Matt Kendall, Glendening, Nolan Roach and Bray swam a school-record time of 1:28.38, which was also a time under the state-cut time.
Bray accounted for South’s last win in the 100 breaststroke as he swam past his own sectional record time to finish in 56.77.
South had depth in many events Saturday, however. In the breaststroke, for example, Risan Wisbey placed seventh and Daniel Card ninth, surrounding a Zionsville swimmer. All 12 finalists can score for their respective team.
Shaver, Alex Linkeneheld and Thomas Weber were fifth, sixth and seventh in the 100 butterfly. In the 100 freestyle, Roach was third, Matt Kendall fifth and Robert Jennings eighth. After that event, South took a 154-128 lead over Zionsville.
“Last year after diving, we were tied for first and we had a couple holes in our lineup. We weren’t as deep in some of the other events,” Thompson said. “We were a lot better on the back end of the meet today. We got this one out of the way, and the future looks bright.”
Weber, who was fourth in the 100 backstroke and a member of the 200 medley relay, said the program has come a long way.
“We have a great coach first of all,” Weber said. “He got us all together, and we just worked really hard all season all four years.”
“It’s just the best feeling in the world to finally win. Four years ago, you never would have thought we would have won. But we got the job done.”
