Vigo County boys swimmers seek best times
Feb. 14—Boys high school swimming and diving sectionals will begin Thursday, with Vigo County teams competing at Plainfield and Vermillion County teams at Crawfordsville.
And for most, if not all of them, it will be the end of their seasons.
Hopes were high two weeks ago that several Terre Haute South swimmers would qualify for the state finals by winning their respective events, but none did. Vermillion County swimmers were also shut out.
And when the Vigo County coaches spoke this week and talked about advancing, they were referring to Thursday night's preliminaries, in which the top 16 in each event move on to Saturday's finals.
"I'm always optimistic and hopeful," said Terre Haute North's boys coach Casey Wolfschlag. "You never know what can happen."
"We want to compete, have fun and swim fast," said Terre Haute South coach Madison Hall. "We hope everyone can advance on Thursday."
Christopher Chow, a sprinter, carries the most hopes for Hall's Braves. He'll compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle races, and has set a goal of breaking 50 seconds in the 100.
Jack Foster is the fifth seed in breaststroke and the seventh seed in butterfly for the Patriots and is part of two relay teams with Thad Balitewicz, Dom Arney and Kaleb Leinenbach.
West Vigo has just three boys — Chase French, Seth Warnock and promising freshman Desmond Chrisjansen — on its team, meaning the Vikings won't be able to earn any relay points.
Boys sectionals
At Plainfield
* Participating teams
* — Avon, Cascade, Danville, Greencastle, North Putnam, Plainfield, South Putnam, Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South and West Vigo.
* Times
* — Preliminaries 6 p.m. Thursday; Diving preliminaries 9 a.m. Saturday; Finals 1 p.m. Saturday.
At Crawfordsville
* Participating teams
* — Attica, Benton Central, Crawfordsville, Delphi, Fountain Central, North Montgomery, North Vermllion, Seeger, South Vermillion, Southmont, Twin Lakes and Western Boone.
* Times
— Preliminaries 5:30 p.m. Thursday; Diving preliminaries 9:30 a.m. Saturday; Finals 1 p.m. Saturday.
