Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
INDIANAPOLIS - Depth paid off in a fourth consecutive boys high school swimming championship for Carmel on Saturday.
The Greyhounds accumulated 208.5 points despite winning only one event. Columbus North was second with 193.5, followed by Munster with 135.
Wawasee placed 10th in Saturday's state finals with a score of 70. Warsaw tied for 45th with seven points, and Tippecanoe Valley tied for 51st with five points.
In individual events, Wawasee's Marcelo Azenha placed sixth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:42.99 and 12th in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.64 seconds. Teammate Ryan Harper placed 11th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.9 seconds.
Two Wawasee relay teams fared well at state. The Warrior 200 medley relay team of Harper, Azenha, Adam Brown and Ryan Moore placed eighth with a time of 1:40.44. The 400 freestyle relay team - made up of the same four boys - placed seventh with a time of 3:14.69.
Warsaw sent one swimmer to the state finals, senior Alex Wood. He placed 13th in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.24 and 14th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:46.12.
It was Wood's third trip in a row to state. He competed in the same two events as a sophomore, but he competed in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays at state as a junior.
"His season was excellent," Warsaw coach Chris LaLonde said. "He practiced extremely hard to cut his times for the state meet. He's helped our program throughout the years. He's set a very good example. Because of him, our other swimmers know what it takes.
"He's an outstanding person."
Tippecanoe Valley sent one swimmer to state, senior Scott Whetstone. It was his fourth straight trip to state. His time of 48.01 seconds in the 100 freestyle, good for 17th place in the state prelims, set a school record.
He placed 12th in the 200 freestyle finals with a time of 1:44.84.
The title was the eighth in boys swimming for Carmel, extending the school's record to 58 overall championships.
Two meet records were set. Nick Arzner of Crawfordsville won the 200-yard freestyle for the third consecutive year, lowering the record he set in Friday's preliminaries with a time of 1 minute, 38.06 seconds. Arzner was the meet's only double winner as he edged defending state champion Dan Barnes of West Lafayette in the 100 freestyle.
John Retrum of Anderson successfully defended his title in the 500 free in 4:29.96, lowering the record of 4:29.46 set by Anderson's Todd Griner in 1988.
Other defending champions who repeated were Justin Hoggatt of Homestead in the 50 free, Jon Karr of Columbus North in the 100 backstroke and Devin Meece of East Central in the 100 breaststroke.
Barnes, who finished second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events, received the IHSAA's mental attitude award. Barnes ranks 28th in a class of 127 students.
