By RYAN WALKER
PORTLAND — Norwell dominated the competition Saturday afternoon at Jay County High School in boys’ swimming, winning the sectional for the second year in a row and placing first in five of the 11 swimming events.
Shortly after the final event, the team scores were announced one by one, and the Knights, with its undefeated regular season, were in familiar territory — first place. Bluffton also had a solid day in the pool. The Tigersharks ended up in third-place out of 11 schools in attendance and a 263 score.
Last year, Norwell graduated five seniors that helped them win the sectional, three of which competed at the state finals. With that much roster turnover, the team didn’t take any of it for granted this year to do it again.
“It feels great,” senior Mikey Reidenbach III said after the meet. “I mean, after how much we lost last year at the beginning of the season, it didn’t seem like it was going to be likely that we were going to win, but as the season went on, it grew more and more likely as I saw my teammates get better and better. It all accumulated to this right now, and I’m just happy it worked out in our favor.”
Shortly after the Knights received the trophy and celebrated near the far end of the pool by the scorer’s table, first-year head coach Stephanie Scott was announced as the boys’ swim coach of the year.
“I was going to cry. I was surprised,” Scott said. “I was very surprised. Honored and surprised.”
About five minutes later, her team shoved her into the pool just as they did after winning the Northeast 8 Conference championship.
“It felt good because that’s just that final signal that we did it. They did it,” she said, soaking wet.
Though the entire team will not be moving on to the state final next week at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, five of the individual events will be. To advance to the final stage, an individual event or relay team must win first or meet the cut time listed on the heat sheet with times based on previous state competitors.
Reidenbach will participate in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle, and Sam Peterson will be in the 100-yard butterfly.
Norwell’s 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relay teams of Emerson Graft, Rodrigo Segovia, Reidenbach, and Peterson round out the list.
“Over my four years in high school, I’ve never been able to compete individually until this year,” Reidenbach said, who went to state last year on the 200-yard medley relay team. “And I think that having the fact that I’m a senior just out pushed me at practice every day and helped me be a leader, and that kind of just wore on me a little bit and worked on me. Yeah, I’m just really excited that I get to go individually.”
For the second-straight year, Bluffton placed third at the sectional but distanced themselves again on the team score from fourth place. Despite not having a first-place finisher or qualifier for the state final, the Tigersharks are showing they belong competing with the top schools every year at the sectional level while separating themselves from the rest of the field.
“We did well,” head coach Justin Upgraft said. “We had a good couple of days. Finished third. Anytime you finish on the podium, it’s a good time. It’s kind of our tradition finishing in that third spot.”
Admittedly, Upgraft said that his team this season “exceeded his expectations by far.” The 2021-22 team, like Norwell, graduated a fair amount of seniors and even sent one to the state finals, but that didn’t stop the team from motivating itself.
Right at the beginning of the year, Upgraft said he was looking for leadership on the team, someone to step up and take charge. What he got in return was an entire group leading one another and was one of his tightly-knit groups in his fifth year at the helm.
Swimmers were motivated in practice, spending time with one another in and out of the pool, and that bond has already started to turn its attention over to the offseason.
“They’re already talking about what they’re going to do in the offseason, getting involved in club swim and being in the water. That comes with them, so I can’t take credit for that. That’s a testament to these guys and how hungry they are and wanting to succeed.”
The five individual events for Norwell heading to the state final will start at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, for preliminary rounds, and the finals will begin at 1 p.m. the following day.
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