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Valley’s Smith, Whetstone also among top qualifiers, Seuferer qualifies first in 500 free
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WARSAW — In his last chance to make the IHSAA boys swimming state finals, Rochester senior Jake Seuferer was the top qualifier in the 500 freestyle at the Warsaw sectional preliminaries Thursday.
Meanwhile, Tippecanoe Valley’s Carson Parker broke the school record in the 100 breaststroke and combined to break the school record in the 400 freestyle relay with three of his teammates.
Overall, Valley is the top seed in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. Parker is the No. 1 seed in the breaststroke, Isaac Whetstone is the No. 1 seed in the 200 freestyle, and Marcus
Smith is the No. 1 seed in the 200 individual medley.
Fincher is the No. 2 seed in the 50 freestyle, Whetstone is No. 2 in the 100 freestyle, and Smith is No. 2 in the 100 backstroke.
Smith is the two-time defending sectional champion in the 200 individual medley. He also won the 100 butterfly at the 2022 sectional and the 100 backstroke at the 2023 sectional. He qualified behind Wabash’s Cael McCann in the backstroke Thursday.
“Marcus, he’s doing alright, swimming for a lane,” Valley coach Scott Whetstone said, adding that Smith is “not quite
100%.” “That’s what we’re trying to do. … He’s tough. He’s been in these situations before.”
Seuferer, whose season best in the 500 free is a 5:08.90 at Maconaquah during the Three Rivers Conference meet on Jan. 20, swam a 5:09.88 Thursday. No competitor was within five seconds of him.
Seuferer swam a 5:13.92 at the 2021 finals as a freshman and placed fourth, swam a 5:05.37 and finished third at the 2022 sectional and a 5:01.47 and finished second at the 2023 sectional.
Columbia City junior Jackson Shipman was the No. 2 qualifier in 5:15.49.
“He’s capable of going faster,” Rochester coach Stephanie Brown said. “I think he’s going to do what it takes to win. He’s going to try.”
Seuferer also qualified fifth in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.46 but is staring at a nearly five-and-a-half second deficit behind Whetstone.
Whetstone beat Seuferer last year in the 500 freestyle but has chosen to swim the 100 free and 200 free instead this year.
So Whetstone’s decision to skip the 500 freestyle this year might have indirectly benefited Seuferer.
“We just decided program-wise, that was the way to go this year,” coach Whetstone said of Isaac. “He wanted to go after the 200 and the 100, and that was just the way he trained. He trained for speed and trained a little bit more for the shorter distance, so that’s the way we went.”
The other Rochester swimmer advancing to the finals was Wes Steininger, who qualified eighth in both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Rochester also qualified for the finals in both the 200 free relay, in which the team of Tanner Reese, Spencer Backus, Lane Shank and Steininger qualified fifth in 1:36.21; and the 400 free relay, in which the team of Seuferer, Reese, Backus and Steininger qualified fourth in 3:29.98.
After the meet, Brown said Seuferer will swim a leg on the 200 free relay for the finals.
Brown said the aim is to break the school record of 1:31.75 set in 2018.
Tanner Reese (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly), Spencer Backus (200 individual medley, 100 freestyle), Lane Shank (100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) and Reece Johnson (200 individual medley, 100 backstroke) all made it back in multiple consolation races.
Noah Riffle also made the consolation race in the 200 freestyle while freshman Brevin Nicholson made the 500 freestyle consolation race.
Grant Bailey, who had never broken 30 seconds in the 50 freestyle or a minute in the 100 freestyle, swam a 26.82 in the 50 freestyle and earned alternate status. He also swam a personal best 59.54 seconds in the 100 freestyle.
“As a team, we took off 100 seconds tonight,” Brown said of her swimmers, noting that a large majority of them dropped large amounts of times compared to their seed times. “A minute and a half, which is just awesome, just phenomenal.”
Other Valley swimmers advancing to the finals included freshman Tucker Whetstone, who qualified fifth in the 100 butterfly; and freshman Aaden Bowers, who trimmed almost five seconds off his seed time in the 100 backstroke and qualified eighth in 1:04.09.
Coach Whetstone also said the 200 medley relay team is aiming for a school record in addition to a sectional title Saturday. He said the school record is 1:37, and they swam a 1:38.90 at the preliminaries. The state qualifying standard is 1:36.95. The team consists of Smith, Parker, Isaac Whetstone and Tucker Whetstone.
As for Pioneer, junior Ian Kitchell qualified fifth in the 100 freestyle in 50.32 seconds and fourth in the 100 backstroke in 57.98 seconds.
Meanwhile, junior Austin Brooke advanced to the finals in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. His 200 individual medley time of 2:16.48 was seventh fastest, and his breaststroke time of 1:06.14 was fifth fastest.
The lone Pioneer relay to advance to the finals was the 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Jared Black, Jack Nance, Kitchell and Brooke, which qualified sixth in 3:47.73.
Diving preliminaries are set for 9 a.m. Saturday. Swimming and diving finals begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Those who qualified between ninth and 16th will race in a consolation final on Saturday. Those who qualified 17th or 18th are alternates.
Sectional champions and those who meet a difficult qualifying standard are the two most common ways to advance to the state finals on Feb. 23-24 at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
The top four divers at the sectional will advance to the diving regional at Valparaiso on Tuesday.
WARSAW BOYS SWIMMING SECTIONAL PRELIMINARIES RESULTS
Top qualifiers plus all Rochester, Valley and Pioneer results
Top eight advance to sectional finals
200 MEDLEY RELAY
1. Valley (Marcus Smith, Carson Parker, Isaac Whetstone, Tucker Whetstone) – 1:38.90, 10. Pioneer (Ian Kitchell, Austin Brooke, Tayt Smith, Fletcher Smith) – 1:59.91 (consolation), 11. Rochester (Brevin Nicholson, Lane Shank, Reece Johnson, Noah Riffle) – 2:03.91 (consolation)
200 FREESTYLE
1. Isaac Whetstone (TV) – 1:48.02, 5. Jake Seuferer (RHS) – 1:54.46 (finals), 9. Tanner Reese (RHS) – 1:58.17 (consolation), 16. Noah Riffle (RHS) – 2:22.95 (consolation), 17. Jared Black (PIO) – 2:24.79 (alternate)
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
1. Marcus Smith (TV) – 2:02.66, 7. Austin Brooke (PIO) – 2:16.48 (finals), 10. Spencer Backus (RHS) – 2:19.74 (consolation), 12. Reece Johnson (RHS) – 2:22.44 (consolation)
Did not advance
DQ. Seth Flenar (RHS)
50 FREESTYLE
1. Fincher (LOG) – 21.64 seconds, 2. Carson Parker (TV) – 21.85 (finals), 8. Wes Steininger (RHS) – 23.65 (finals), 11. Tucker Whetstone (TV) – 23.89 (consolation), 18. Grant Bailey (RHS) – 26.82 (alternate)
Did not advance
21. Fletcher Smith (PIO) – 27.32, 22. Jack Nance (PIO) – 27.49, 25. Diego Gonsalez (TV) – 28.38, 30. Landen Johnson (PIO) – 31.67, 31. Elliot Miller (RHS) – 36.01
100 BUTTERFLY
1. Fincher (LOG) – 51.78 seconds (sectional record), 5. Tucker Whetstone (TV) – 56.52 (finals), 8. Wes Steininger (RHS) – 58.20 (finals), 9. Tanner Reese (RHS) – 58.62 (consolation)
100 FREESTYLE
1. McCann (WAB) – 47.31 seconds, 2. Isaac Whetstone (TV) – 49.13 (finals), 5. Ian Kitchell (PIO) – 50.32 (finals), 12. Spencer Backus (RHS) – 52.98 (consolation), 14. Lane Shank (RHS) – 54.16 (consolation), 17. Aaden Bowers (TV) – 56.59 (alternate)
Did not advance
20. Grant Bailey (RHS) – 59.54, 24. Diego Gonsalez (TV) – 1:04.37, 25. Tayt Smith (PIO) – 1:05.64, 29. Izayik Hopkins (PIO) – 1:11.90
500 FREESTYLE
1. Jake Seuferer (RHS) – 5:09.88, 16. Brevin Nicholson (RHS) – 6:19.58 (consolation), 18. Noah Riffle (RHS) – 6:25.42 (alternate)
Did not advance
19. Fletcher Smith (PIO) – 6:37.52
200 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. Culver Academy (Collins, Dorrel, Doyle, Youvan) – 1:30.79, 5. Rochester (Tanner Reese, Spencer Backus, Lane Shank, Wes Steininger) – 1:36.21 (finals), 10. Pioneer (Izayik Hopkins, Jared Black, Landen Johnson, Jack Nance) – 2:01.79 (consolation)
100 BACKSTROKE
1. McCann (WAB) – 52.99 seconds, 2. Marcus Smith (TV) – 54.34 (finals), 4. Ian Kitchell (PIO) – 57.98 (finals), 8. Aaden Bowers (TV) – 1:04.09 (finals), 11. Reece Johnson (RHS) – 1:04.53 (consolation)
Did not advance
21. Tayt Smith (PIO) – 1:18.01, 22. Brevin Nicholson (RHS) – 1:20.44, 25. Elliot Miller (RHS) – 1:38.43
100 BREASTSTROKE
1. Carson Parker (TV) – 58.83 seconds (school record), 5. Austin Brooke (PIO) – 1:06.14 (finals), 16. Lane Shank (RHS) – 1:16.42 (consolation)
Did not advance
23. Seth Flenar (RHS) – 1:33.79
400 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. Valley (Isaac Whetstone, Tucker Whetstone, Marcus Smith, Carson Parker) – 3:22.38 (school record), 4. Rochester (Jake Seuferer, Tanner Reese, Spencer Backus, Wes Steininger) – 3:29.98 (finals), 6. Pioneer (Jared Black, Jack Nance, Ian Kitchell, Austin Brooke) – 3:47.43 (finals)
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