Warsaw Boys Swim Team Dominates For 7th-Straight Sectional Title
Warsaw Boys Swim Team Dominates For 7th-Straight Sectional Title
Posted
Anthony Gadson-agadson@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw Boys Swim Team Dominates For 7th-Straight Sectional TitleThe Warsaw boys swim team's most recent sectional championship was its seventh-straight and its most dominating. Claiming the 2014 Warsaw Sectional Championship, the host Warsaw Tigers won with 515 points, which were 208 more than Culver Military Academy's second-place point total of 307. The Manchester Squires finished ninth (105), followed by Tippecanoe Valley (66) in 10th. Winning 9 of the 13 events, the Warsaw Tigers will be well-represented at this weekend's state finals, which begin Friday with the opening round at IUPUI in Indianapolis. Warsaw's 200 medley relay of junior Jayden Parrett, junior Spencer Davidson, sophomore Zach Taylor and sophomore Matt Wildman began the day with a meet record time of 1:38.12, setting the tone for the home team. Also winning sectional titles, therefore advancing to the state finals, from Warsaw were Cook in the 200 free (1:48.98) and 500 free (5:00.21), Taylor in the 200 IM (2:04.22) and the 200 free relay of Wildman, senior J.D. French, freshman Hudson Snyder and Cook (1:32.65). Warsaw's 400 free relay of Parrett, Miller, Cook and Davidson also won in a meet record time of 3:17.56 and completed a clean sweep for Parrett on the day. Along with being a part of the two record-setting relays, Parrett also won the 100 free (48.00) and set a new meet and school record with his first-place time in the 100 back, winning in 52.08, eclipsing Brian Thallemer's 2009 record time of 52.66. "I was really close last year, being .1 (of a second) away, so it was really nice to see that go down this year," Parrett said of breaking the school record. The 100 back sectional championship is Parrett's third-straight, as he went on to finish 15th at last year's state meet in 53.47 after finishing 32nd as a freshman (55.93). Having already cut off almost a second-a-half from his state finals time from a year ago, Parrett credits a year-long committment to the sport for his improvement. "Over the summer, I trained with my club team and had a lot of competition over there," he said. "Coming into this season, I've just been training my butt off - compared to the other years." Parrett's classmate, Davidson, also worked with the Penn River Otters over the summer, and won his third-straight 100 breast stroke title, cutting almost four seconds off his previous meet record time of 1:00.27, which he set as a freshman, by winning Saturday's event in 56.90. "My mindset's completely different this year," he said. "I trained really hard (over the summer)." Davidson's 56.90 is the eighth-fastest time going into the state meet, and he says he feels much more comfortable this year than he did in his previous visits, finishing 20th last year (59.26) and 23rd as a freshman (59.65). "I'm a lot more relaxed than I was last year," Davidson said. "I was very, very, very nervous last year going into state. I really didn't even have that good of a (seed) time, so everything was really a bad deal. This year, I'm feeling pretty confident. I'm going to keep this mindset and go down there and hopefully place well." Coming into this season, Warsaw coach Nathan Long noticed the change in Davidson's approach. "He wanted it a lot more this season," Long said of Davidson. "He's just working a lot harder. It's not that he didn't work hard the last two years, it's just that this year, he's been a lot more determined and a lot more focused to go down to the state finals and do well." And at the state finals, Davidson hopes to break Nate Taylor's 2006 100 breast Warsaw record time of 56.39. "I wanted to break the school record and go about a 56.1 or 56.2, but I'll take a 56.9 (at the sectional)," he said. "That's still going to be a really good seed down in Indy." With Davidson and Parrett faring so well at the sectional, and possibly beyond, it's only pushed the rest of the team. "I would say the biggest thing is like Ethan Cook, who's been practicing with them the past year. Now, all of a sudden, he's decided, 'I want to be one of those guys.'," Long said. "Like Josh Miller, saying, 'I want to go as fast as Jayden.', and he busts off a 53 in the back stroke. I don't know if it's just Jayden and Spencer, but it's their work ethic in practice and everyone looking at them saying, 'I want to do that too.'."
WARSAW SECTIONAL Team Scores - 1. Warsaw 515, 2. Culver Military Academy 307, 3. Rochester 288, 4. Columbia City 199, 5. Huntington North 161, 6. Logansport 160.5, 7. Pioneer 152, 8. Lewis Cass 138, 9. Manchester 105, 10. Tippecanoe Valley 66, 11. Plymouth 54.5, 12. Wabash 51. (Winners, Local Results) 200 Medley Relay - 1. Warsaw (Jayden Parrett, Spencer Davidson, Zach Taylor, Matt Wildman) 1:38.12*, 8. Manchester (Ashton Bolinger, Ross Messer, Colin Garcia, Evan Milam) 1:54.30; 200 Free - 1. Ethan Cook (War) 1:48.98, 2. J.D. French (War) 1:50.54, 6. Matthew Hastings (War) 1:59.82, 11. Noah Clampitt (TV) 2:09.29, 12. Noah Cain (Man) 2:10.55; 200 IM - 1. Zach Taylor (War) 2:04.22, 2. Mac Pelo (War) 2:05.67, 3. Hudson Snyder (War) 2:06.33, 4. Ross Messer (Man) 2:12.91, 14. Colin Garcia (Man) 2:32.06; 50 Free - 1. Patrick Kays (Roch) 22.04, 2. Spencer Davidson (War) 22.09, 5. Matt Wildman (War) 23.26, 16. Andrew Gauger (War) 25.47; Diving (Top 4 to Regional) - 1. Toby McGehee (LC) 370.40, 4. Steven Reinholt (War) 284.40, 5. Nicholas Bell (War) 268.70, 6. Tyler Paseka (War) 256.20; 100 Fly - 1. Patrick Kays (Roch) 53.04, 2. Josh Miller (War) 54.99, 6. Tom Alexander (TV) 1:01.61, 11. Colin Garcia (Man) 1:04.11, 13. Kaleb Schneidewent (War) 1:06.16. 100 Free - 1. Jayden Parrett (War) 48.00, 5. J.D. French (War) 50.88, 9. Joshua Cardin (War) 55.55; 500 Free - 1. Ethan Cook (War) 5:00.21, 2. Hudson Snyder (War) 5:00.35, 3. Zach Taylor (War) 5:06.65, 12. Tom Alexander (TV) 5:53.01; 200 Free Relay - 1. Warsaw (Matt Wildman, J.D. French, Hudson Snyder, Ethan Cook) 1:32.65, 6. Manchester (Evan Milam, Ashton Bolinger, Noah Cain, Ross Messer) 1:42.03, 7. Tippy Valley (Noah Clampitt, Tanner Neeley, Brandon Maull, Tom Alexander) 1:43.74; 100 Back - 1. Jayden Parrett (War) 52.08**, 3. Josh Miller (War) 53.85, 7. Joshua Cardin (War) 1:01.21, 14. Ashton Bolinger (Man) 1:09.68; 100 Breast - 1. Spencer Davidson (War) 56.90*, 2. Mac Pelo (War) 1:02.88, 3. Matt Wildman (War) 1:04.05, 6. Ross Messer (Man) 1:07.03; 400 Free Relay - 1. Warsaw (Jayden Parrett, Josh Miller, Ethan Cook, Spencer Davidson) 3:17.56*, 9. Tippy Valley (Brandon Maull, Tanner Neeley, Tom Alexander, Noah Clampitt) 4:00.20, 11. Manchester (Colin Garcia, Xzavier Whitaker, Cylas Howard, Noah Cain) 4:05.80. * - Meet Record ** - Meet, School Record
