The girls’ team prepares for sectionals, while the boys seek an undefeated season
By RYAN WALKER
Bluffton split its home swimming doubleheader with Bellmont as the boys took their contest 136-47 and the girls fell 87-71.
This was the last home meet for the girls’ team, who switched around the lineup for the fun of it. Head coach Hunter Cunningham had her two seniors Lucia Corkwell and Zoey Schmidt pick which events they wanted to compete in, and she went down the roster to fill out the rest.
The purpose is to have relief from the grind that is the swim season, but still get a good workout in. Swimmers’ bodies are put to the test and are not meant to fully recover until the end of the season for conference and sectional meets.
And even with seven members on its roster, Bluffton only lost by 16 team points out of its normal order. The team’s numbers are small, but the quality Cunningham talks about throughout the season is what counts.
“It’s more of a fun meet to give them a break, and they still came out and only lost by 16,” Cunningham said after the meet. “They had fun with it, and it’s a good way to go out, especially for our seniors.”
Sectional preliminaries are just a week away to the date, where 11 other schools will give their all to advance to the final stage the following Saturday.
Cunningham is hoping to get at least five of her individuals to the finals along with her relay teams. Only 16 move on, but eight will move to the Heat 2 finals to compete at the top level and earn the team the most points.
Five freshman will lead the charge and are seeking that opportunity, and Cunningham is interested to see how they handle the bright lights of the sectional.
“I have five freshmen, so this is a very big meet,” Cunningham said. “They thought conference was big, so they’re nervous for sectional, but a good nervous. I’m excited for them to experience it and our goals are individual goals to get into the top-16. Our seniors — they know what to expect, so they’ll push for that top eight. I’m excited to see where they end up on Saturday, and they want it.”
For the boys, who have their sectional in three weeks, this was business as usual with a twist.
The team has a large roster, so swimmers are fighting for spots. So much so that it’s enough to concern head coach Justin Upgraft with how he will construct a lineup for the sectional.
One example is an event he has a junior in is .700 of a second behind a freshman, but he might select the junior due to their sectional experience. He could also go with who is the faster swimmer, but by a thin margin.
Many individuals dropped in time Thursday night and the boys are starting to ramp up and prove they’re worthy to crack the top spot in the lineup. One Upgraft wants every part of it.
“Just how the season kind of unfolded, some things have heated up as far as the team,” Upgraft said. “We’re coming down to spots, kids fighting for what spots. There’s some good competition out there for spots. I had tons of guys drop times tonight because they know they’re fighting for that spot. In practice, it’s getting heated, in the Heat it’s getting heated. We get guys getting upset because they didn’t do X, Y, or Z. It’s fun. It’s a fun time.”
The Tigershark boys are also trying to do some epic things in the 2023-24 season.
One of which has already happened with their 10th straight ACAC title over last weekend. The second is going undefeated, and the win against Bellmont earned them a perfect 13-0 mark with only Huntington North standing in the way.
Finally the sectional championship, the one that hasn’t been accomplished in school history.
Right now, the team isn’t focused entirely on the sectional meet itself, but rather, as individuals. The group is set on beating out their teammate in practice and during meets, and Upgraft keeps reminding them of what is at stake.
“We’re trying to get them to realize that we could do something potentially pretty cool, but it doesn’t happen three weeks from now. It starts today, two months ago, three months ago, but we’ve got to put in the work now so we can walk away from that (sectional) meet saying there’s nothing else we could have done. We left it all in the pool,” Upgraft said.
The preliminary rounds for the girls will start at. 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1 at Jay County with the finals at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 3.
The boys will finish the season at Huntington North starting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6.
Individual winners:
Boys
• Noah Brooks, Ashton Arnett, Elija Robles and Isaac Wheeler in the 200-meter medley relay.
• Wheeler in the 200-meter freestyle.
• Brooks in the 50-meter freestyle and in the 100-meter backstroke.
• Arnett in the 100-meter butterfly.
• Griffin Linderwell in the 100-meter freestyle.
• Jackson Meyer in the 400-meter freestyle.
• Wes Frettinger, Griffin Linderwell, Graham Linderwell and Athan King in the 200-meter freestyle relay.
• Wheeler, Braden Lemler, Rhett Gerber and Arnett in the 400-meter freestyle relay.
Girls
• Ellie Coyne in the 200-meter freestyle and in the 100-meter breaststroke.
• Lucia Corkwell in the 100-butterfly.
• Zoey Schmidt in the 100-meter freestyle.
• Corkwell, Anna Zurcher, Coyne and Kierstynn Reed in the 200-meter freestyle relay.
