By GREG MENGELT
Jeffersonville’s boys’ swim team won its first Hoosier Hills Conference title since 2005 on Tuesday, sharing the crown with Bedford North Lawrence, which earned its fifth straight HHC championship.
The Red Devils and Stars tied with 242 points, just 7 1/2 points ahead of third-place Floyd Central and 25 1/2 ahead of fourth-place Seymour. New Albany finished fifth with 159 points.
“It was a great night for Jeff,” Red Devil coach Keith Gast said. “It was a great win for my seniors. It was nice to get back a share of the title.”
Before Bedford’s dominance, Jeff had won six straight crowns from 2000 to 2005. Those were the only six titles in Jeff history until Tuesday night.
“It was sort of poetic to see BNL and Jeff tie, since we are the only schools to have won the conference over the past 11 years,” Gast said.
The victory ended a streak of three-plus years of no championships for Jeffersonville boys’ swimming.
“A couple of weeks ago, (senior team captain) Ben Hennegan came to me with the realization that if his senior class didn’t win a conference or sectional title this season, his class would be the first four-year athletes in our program not to win at least one title,” Gast recalled. “I think he was relieved as much for that as anything. It is nice to think that we have been able to compete at such a high level for 12 years.”
Tuesday’s meet came down to the final event — the 400-yard freestyle relay — with Jeff, BNL and Floyd all having a shot at securing the title. Jeff needed to finish three spots ahead of Bedford to win the title outright and two spots ahead to share the crown.
Jeff’s team of Austin Smith, Ty Arthur, Zach Blankenbeker and Hennegan finished second behind race winner Seymour, while the Stars’ relay squad came in fourth. Jeff finished .48 seconds ahead of New Albany to hang on to its share of the championship.
“It has been a really fast year in the conference,” Gast said. “It has been close every time the conference teams have hit the water.”
Jeff got off to a fast start on Tuesday. In the 200 freestyle — the first individual event — Blankenbeker finished first, Smith third and Lucas Mays was sixth.
After Andrew Shelly, Connor Richardson and Will Czerwonka all finished in the top seven in diving, Smith finished third and Arthur was sixth in the 100 butterfly to keep Jeff close to the Stars.
Two events later, Blankenbeker won his second event, swimming the 500 freestyle in 2:40.48 — 20 seconds ahead of second-place Matt Fouts of Seymour. Blankenbeker hasn’t lost an individual event in any meet this season.
Following Jeff’s second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, Hennegan finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke — ahead of fourth- and fifth-place swimmers from Bedford — to set up the 400 free relay team’s heroics.
Andrew Cato was a three-time winner for Floyd Central, winning the 200 individual medley (1:57.74) and the 100 backstroke (54.0). The junior broke an 11-year-old record in the 200 IM and re-set his own record in the 100 back.
He was also a member of the winning 200 free relay team with Nick Wolfe, Brock Slavens and Kyle Crater.
Slavens finished third in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle. Crater, a freshman, was sixth in the 200 IM.
“We had a great meet Tuesday night,” Floyd coach Joe Perkins said. “I think this was the first time this season that our inexperience hurt us a little bit. I think we learned a tremendous amount (Tuesday) of how to prepare for the sectional finals coming up. I was proud of our guys, as they bounced back from a shaky beginning and fought with Bedford North Lawrence and Jeffersonville all night.”
Seymour had the most victories with four on Tuesday. Floyd had three and New Albany had two, along with Jeff.
The Bulldogs got wins from freshman Luke Lete in the 100 butterfly and senior Evan Truman in the 100 freestyle. Truman also was second in the 50 freestyle, while Lete finished sixth.
Aaron Zimmer was second in the 100 breaststroke for the Bulldogs. He also placed fourth in the 200 free.
“New Albany had a great team this season,” Gast said.
Team scores — Jeffersonville 242, Bedford North Lawrence 242, Floyd Central 234 1/2, Seymour 216 1/2, New Albany 159, Jennings County 106, Madison 75, Columbus East 60.
200 medley relay — 1. Seymour 1:38.91, 2. Floyd Central 1:43.97, 3. Bedford North Lawrence 1:44.52, 4. New Albany 1:45.08, 5. Jeffersonville 1:48.56.
200 freestyle — 1. Blankenbeker (J) 1:45.07, 2. Fouts (S) 1:51.66, 3. Smith (J) 1:52.90, 4. Zinner (NA) 1:53.56, 6. Mays (J) 1:56.67.
200 individual medley — 1. Cato (FC) 1:57.74, 2. Wiethoff (S) 2:03.77, 3. Walling (CE) 2:08.24, 5. Anderson (FC) 2:10.58, 6. Crater (FC) 2:12.61, 7. Turner (J) 2:13.06.
50 freestyle — 1. Chastain (S) 21.39, 2. Truman (NA) 22.84, 3. Slavens (FC) 22.93, 6. Lete (NA) 23.25, 8. Applegate (J) 23.62.
Diving — 1. Dusard (BNL) 457.95, 2. Davis (FC) 410.9, 3. Charles (BNL) 326.8, 4. Shelly (J) 323.9, 6. Richardson (J) 285.5, 7. Czerwonka (J) 273.9, 8. Hartman (NA) 261.95.
100 fly — 1. Lete (NA) 56.58, 2. Dutton (BNL) 56.84, 3. Smith (J) 57.18, 4. Holllingsworth (FC) 58.85, 5. Anderson (FC) 59.02, 6. Arthur (J) 59.10.
100 free — 1. Truman (NA) 49.25, 2. Schneider (S) 50.94, 3. Suding (JC) 51.14, 4. Slavens (FC) 51.20, 5. Applegate (J) 52.48, 7. Crater (FC) 52.94, 8. Hennegan (J) 53.0.
500 free — 1. Blankenbeker (J) 4:50.48, 2. Fouts (S) 5:10.43, 3. Orender (BNL) 5:15.51, 4. Ellis (FC) 5:21.03, 5. Hall (FC) 5:21.78, 7. Mays (J) 5:25.73.
200 freestyle relay —1. Floyd Central (Wolfe, Crater, Slavens, Cato) 1:32.53, 2. Jeffersonville 1:32.81, 3. Bedford North Lawrence 1:35.63, 8. New Albany 1:44.59.
100 backstroke — 1. Cato (FC) 54.0, 2. Haskett (BNL) 55.33, 3. Wiethoff (S) 55.54, 5. Sparks (NA) 58.42, 7. Turner (J) 59.75, 8. Grantz (FC) 1:01.53.
100 breaststroke — 1. Chastain (S) 56.98, 2. Zinner (NA) 1:06.04, 3. Spaudling (M) 1:07.49, 4. Hennegan (J) 1:08.65.
400 freestyle relay — 1. Seymour 3:21.64, 2. Jeffersonville 3:24.84, 3. New Albany 3:25.32, 5. Floyd Central 3:38.29.
