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Rochester girls, boys finish 2nd behind Maconaquah
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
BUNKER HILL — The Tippecanoe Valley 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Isaac Whetstone, Marcus Smith, Brandon Hoffman and Carson Parker broke school and conference records in the 400 freestyle relay at the Three Rivers Conference meet at Maconaquah High School Saturday.
The quartet’s relay time of 3:26.80 broke the record of 3:32.00 that a team from Rochester swam in 2016.
In addition to the meet-closing 400 freestyle relay, that group of four also won the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:45.81 and helped Valley to a third-place finish in the five-team field.
In the girls meet, Valley finished third out of six teams.
Both the Rochester girls and boys finished second.
Maconaquah won both the girls and boys team titles. "Maconaquah has won TRC titles in both girls and boys swimming each of the last six years. Since joining the TRC in the 2015-16 school year, only the 2016 Rochester girls have denied Maconaquah a TRC title in either gender."
Boys
Smith and Hoffman also excelled in individual events.
Smith, a freshman, won the 200 individual medley in 2:03.90 and the 100 butterfly in 56.85 seconds. His individual medley time smashed the previous record, set by Cole Bretzman last year, by over four-and-a-half seconds.
Hoffman was involved in a dead heat finish with Maconaquah’s Walker Hays for the title in the 100 freestyle with both touching in 51.04 seconds. Hoffman also won the 100 backstroke in 58.75 seconds. Runner-up Dylan Steininger of Rochester was the only competitor who finished within six seconds of Hoffman.
Parker also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.22, beating the rest of the field by over three seconds.
The only other area champion was Rochester senior diver Kadin Kelly, who beat teammate Bradly Bickle by 5.5 points – 346.70 to 341.20 – for the title. Bickle had beaten Kelly in a senior night dual meet against Bremen earlier in the week.
Other top Rochester swimmers included Jake Seuferer, who was second behind Wabash’s Seth Blossom in both the 200 and 500 freestyles, Dylan Steininger, who was second behind Smith in the 200 individual medley and second behind Hoffman
