By RYAN WALKER
Both Bluffton swim teams competed in the Allen County Athletic Conference’s Invitational at Jay County Friday night.
Out of four teams, the Tigershark boys’ team won its ninth straight ACAC title with a score of.
Head coach Justin Upgraft’s team has not finished below first place in the conference since he took over the reins five years ago. He’s been eyeing the ACAC crown and the sectional since the first meet of the year, hence a tough week of practice inching toward season-long goals.
“I’m excited,” he said after the meet. “We had a really tough week of practice this week — guys are hurting a little bit, just sore. To see guys come out and respond the way they did today, it’s exciting.”
Despite some sore muscles, the team has responded to just about everything Upgraft has thrown at them. He’s said that this team has a different feeling to them, how quickly the group matured at the beginning of the season and continues to accomplish for more than what they did last year — finish third in the sectional.
During practice, swimmers see their personal bests on the wall as a reminder of what they’re shooting for. They love the challenge, they care about getting better, and they want more.
“It’s been a lot of guys who are committed,” Upgraft said. “They love each other, they love this team, they love the history about this team, and it’s easy on my part to come in and wanted to come to practice every day and challenge these guys because they want to do it all themselves. It makes my job much easier.”
The girls placed third in the conference, falling behind champion Jay County and Adams Central.
Although the goal this season wasn’t to be on the same level as the boys’ team just yet, the girls made significant progress during the season in a program growing in numbers. Friday night, head coach Hunter Cunningham’s team proved that growth.
“I could not be mad with any swims. Everybody dropped time in every event,” Cunningham said after the event. “It varied from one second to seven seconds, which was awesome to see, especially at this time of the season. Hopefully, we see more dropped time from sectionals.”
Two weeks ago, Cunningham admitted that she and the team were frustrated with a dual-meet loss to South Adams. She mentioned that she wanted to go out and avenge the loss and beat their rival. They did just that on Friday.
It feels really good,” she said. “I would say, losing to South Adams in a dual-meet the way we did and then coming back and being able to beat them at conference kind of when it matters. The girls feel like they have purpose now. They know that it was just a rough meet (against South Adams), and we can beat them, which gives them a good mindset going into sectionals here in two weeks.”
It’s safe to say both the boys and girls had a good night in the pool.
Top placers for the boys were:
• Elija robles second, Austin Davis third in the diving events.
• Noah Brooks, Ashton Arnett, Isaac Wheeler, and Robles second in the 200-yard medley relay.
• Dalton Rodgers first, Max Worth third in the 200-yard freestyle.
• Wheeler first in the 200-yard IM.
• Gavin Yergler third in the 50-yard freestyle.
• Wheeler second, Arnett third in the 100-yard butterfly.
• Arnett first, Linderwell second in the 500-yard freestyle.
• Yergler, Rodgers, Robles, and Wheeler in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
• Brooks first, Rodgers second in the 100-yard backstroke.
• Robles second in the 100-yard breaststroke.
• Max Worth, Yergler, Brooks, and Rodgers first, Cole Arnett, Wes Frettinger, Linderwell, and Arnett second in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Individual placers for the girls were:
• Annika Linderwell second in the 200-yard freestyle.
• Olivia Priester fourth in the 200-yard IM.
• Priester fourt, Kiara Sammons seventh in the 100-yard butterfly.
• Zoey Schmidt fifth in the 100-yard freestyle.
• Schmidt second, Linderwell third in the 500-yard freestyle.
• Emma Frauhiger fifth in the 100-yard backstroke.
• Libby Arnett sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke.
• Priester, Linderwell, Schmidt, and Frauigher fourth, Claire Craighead, Chloe Bredemeyer, Lucia Corkwell, and MaryBeth Zurcher fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
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