Center Grove swimmers sweep county meet

The number of personal bests no doubt eclipsed the eight meet records rewritten at the Center Grove natatorium on Saturday.

Whatever the final tally, it made for an entertaining few hours at the annual Johnson County meet.

The Trojans girls squad, ranked 10th, outdistanced Franklin, 553-473, while Center Grove’s boys manufactured a 530-469 advantage over the Grizzly Cubs.

Junior Lara Phipps led the way for the CG girls, winning the 200-yard individual medley in a record time of 2 minutes, 5.69 seconds. She also teamed with freshman Addyson Matern and juniors Grace Clarkston and Lexi Stuart to lower the county standard in the 200 freestyle relay to 1:37.68.

“It’s a big accomplishment, but I have those bigger goals that I want to achieve later in the season, so these are kind of just stepping stones to get to that,” said Phipps, whose other blue ribbons were the 100 fly (56.29) and 200 medley relay. “This is a good meet that most of our team suited up, we had good times and good team spirit.

“We have a school break, so we’ll hit the practices hard and get ready for sectionals after that.”

Other girls records were established in 1-meter diving with junior Mia Prusiecki (543.95) eclipsing her mark of a year ago (511.15), and by Franklin’s 400 free relay of Lili Ratzlaff, Jovie Mowrey, Jenna Miller and Ally Lacy (3:35.79).

Center Grove, too, shattered the old standard in the 400 free relay despite placing second. Matern, Stuart and sophomores Clara Brandon and Tenley Wilkins finished in 3:38.09.

“I think right now I like the quality of our depth,” first-year Center Grove coach Brad Smith said. “Not only did our No. 1s step up today, but every kid just came out and gave it their all. I think that’s what I’m most proud of today.

“Tenley Wilkins from the girls side really stepped up for us. She’s been working extremely hard in practice, and maybe not getting the results in meets so far. To overcome that today was really good. Laney Brooks won the (100) breaststroke, and I really think that gives her some strong confidence as we go to the second half of the season.”

For the Trojans boys, Smith pointed out the efforts of sophomore Max Hite, who finished fourth in the 200 free and third in the 100 backstroke.

Three of Hite’s teammates, seniors Evan Hernandez and Sam Smith along with freshman Henry Lyness, put together memorable performances of their own for Center Grove.

Hernandez finished the 50 free in 20.80 seconds, a new county meet record by nearly half a second; he also made the top level of the award’s podium as a member of the victorious 200 freestyle relay, which swam a record time of 1:25.94, and included Jonah Brandon, Lyness and Smith.

He also took part in the winning 200 medley relay, which included Lyness, Brandon and senior Connor Conklin.

“I think this is huge for me, especially with the (50 free) time I went. I’m unbelievably happy with it,” Hernandez said. “Personally, a county record, you only get the chance here in mid-season, and it was just crazy to set one.

“I definitely came into the meet wanting the records, not knowing if I was going to get them, but just ready to swim my butt off to get them.”

Smith’s busy morning included winning the 200 free (1:42.71) by five seconds, and the 500 free, the latter in a new county mark of 4:39.30. Lyness won the 100 butterfly (51.93) and set the record in the 100 backstroke (50.36).

Other Franklin wins were courtesy of Ratzlaff in the girls 200 freestyle (1:52.85) and 100 free (52.46), Austin Clark in diving (333.85), Lacy in the girls 100 backstroke (59.03) and Aleksandr Ries in the boys 100 breaststroke (59.96).

“We silently had a really great meet, honestly,” Grizzly Cubs coach Zach DeWitt said. “It was kind of under-the-radar, but we were getting lots of season-best times. Quite frankly, considering what we put into this meet, we were really happy.

“A year ago, I was a little embarrassed of our competitive spirit and the energy that we brought to the pool. I think it was night and day difference between last year and this year. We’re in a much better spot than a year ago, and we’re really happy about the progress we’ve made.”