The South swimming and diving team found itself in an odd position Tuesday night. Although the Panthers were competing in only their third meet of the season, the were also celebrating their Senior Night. The team’s demanding schedule will keep the them away from their own turf for the rest of the season (omitting the BHSS Holiday Invitational on December 29-30th), so they honored their impending graduates a little earlier than usual.
The Panthers, fresh off a tag team win with Bloomington North against Terre Haute North and South in the Sister Cities swim meet, did not let the visiting Edgewood Mustangs spoil their festivities, dominating the competition 119-53 in the men’s and 119-48 in the women’s.
The boys had 8 individual winners, with over half of them being seniors. Wesley Webb (100 fly), Max Grogg (50 free), Luke Lobring (200 free), and Wyeth Michaelsen (100 back) all claimed wins. Other wins came from juniors Riley Halloren (500 free) Seth Glasscock (100 breast)and sophomore Kobi Hogan (100 free).
Michaelsen took home his first win of the season and was pleased with his performance, saying “it was felt really good to get the win in the backstroke. I’m not usually in the spotlight in my events, and it was nice be number one.”
Senior and lone boys diver Elijah Earle took 2nd on the night, scoring a 234.40 and keeping within 15 points of Edgewood’s winner. Earle said, “it was a really exciting night and was really powerful to stand on all the work we had done over the years. The night was a very special experience for all of us.”
The girls’ side was more of the same, winning by a large margin and taking the 1-2 spots on every event. Seniors Mackenzie Looze (50 free), Emily Long (200 free) and Julia Wolf (200 IM) were able to walk away with victories on the night, and Junior Phoebe Rensink (100 free and 100 breast) had a spectacular night to help honor the Panther seniors. Other individual winners included juniors Annie Levy (500 free) and Lauren Anders (100 back). Freshman Zora Emmert took home the 100 butterfly and showed improvement on what has already been a solid start to her high school career.
Sophomore Caitlin Liechti took the diving with a score of 187.53. “It was a great to get the win and support our seniors, I’m super excited to for the rest of the season,” Liechti said.
Senior Nicole Perry, a winner in two of the relays and third in the100 butterfly, said “being able to win big on Senior Night was super great, these past four years have been really fun.”
The Panthers will be back in the pool December 16th against Columbus North at IUPUI. Both boys and girls teams have had strong starts and will look to continue their success throughout the rest of the regular season.
