Whiteland, Greenwood swimmers split dual meet

<p>Greenwood’s very young girls swimming and diving team is setting some ambitious goals for itself this season.</p><p>And while the Woodmen have their eyes on much bigger prizes than dual meets, being able to pull out Thursday’s showdown with rival Whiteland was a welcome confidence booster.</p><p>“We definitely are building confidence, and we’re gearing up for those bigger meets, those championship meets for sure,” Greenwood girls coach Brooke Thompson said. “In their heads, they think that they definitely are a lot further along than what they were last year at this point.”</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Sophomores Alayna Kenworthy and Grace Nuhfer each won a pair of individual events and swam on two winning relays as the Woodmen held on for a 96-89 victory.</p><p>The Warriors won the boys meet decisively, 113.5 to 69.5.</p><p>Greenwood’s girls dominated from an individual standpoint, taking first place in all but two events, but Whiteland was able to stay close due to its superior depth. Not until after the 400-yard freestyle relay, which Nuhfer, Kenworthy, Charli Graves and Ava Leininger won by five seconds, could the Woodmen comfortably celebrate.</p><p>In addition to the double wins from Nuhfer (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly) and Kenworthy (200 IM, 500 freestyle), Greenwood also got individual first-place finishes from Leininger (50 free), Faith Jackson (diving) and Madison Peckinpaugh (100 breaststroke) and swept all three relays.</p><p>Whiteland got victories from Morgan Giroud in the 100 free and Avery Herring in the backstroke.</p><p>The Warriors fared much better in the boys meet, getting two wins apiece from Wyatt Sell (200 free, 100 breast), Brenden Gough (50 free, 100 backstroke) and Nicholas Klenner (200 IM, 100 butterfly). Cyler Nelis was first in the 100 freestyle, Collin Barton was the top diver and all three relays went to the visitors.</p><p>“The goal is eventually sectionals and state, doing well there,” Whiteland coach Alec DeWitt said, “but this was great. This was a good meet for us. We needed it.”</p><p>The lone Greenwood boys winner was Conner Peckinpaugh, who hit the wall first in the 500 freestyle.</p><p>These two teams will see plenty of one another this season, with the next meeting coming at the Johnson County meet on Dec. 15.</p>