BEARCATS SWEEP TIGERS

Muncie Central overtook Yorktown as the best high school swimming program in Delaware County last night. The Bearcat girls survived a back-and-forth battle to beat the Tigers 99-84, while Central's boys won four of the meet's first five events on their way to a relatively easy 105-81 victory.

The girls meet turned out to be the closer of the two Tuesday night, with several lead changes throughout. The Tigers used a 1-2-3 finish in diving (Sam Mahon 200.80, Alexa Voss 154.20, Mary Hazen 118.30 respectively) to take a 40-35 lead heading into the second half of swimming.

Yorktown's ladies held onto the lead through the first three post-diving events. The score following the 500-yard freestyle was Yorktown 62, Muncie Central 61. The meet turned for the final time on the 200-yard freestyle relay (which is also where the Bearcat boys put their foot down, but more on that later).

Central finished 1-3 in the girls 200 free relay to turn a one-point deficit into a 71-66 lead. Yorktown put on its game face and battled back in the next event, the 100-yard backstroke. Larah Beaver and Caroline Grasso finished 1-2 (1:01.27 and 1:07.42 respectively) to bring YHS back within a point at 77-76. But the weakest stroke in the Yorktown arsenal was ahead, and it cost the Tigers any remaining chance to win the meet.

Central put up a 1-2-4 finish in the 100-yard breaststroke to outscore Yorktown 12-4 in that event. It's a stroke Yorktown has struggled to score in for a long time--it's one of our Achilles heels. The breast outcome pushed the Bearcat lead to 89-80 going to the final event, but Yorktown was still alive.

Yorktown would need either a 1-2 finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay or a Muncie Central disqualification for victory. The former would have given the Tigers a 92-91 win, but it was not meant to be. The Bearcats won the relay by more than seven seconds, and put the finishing touches on the 99-84 final score.

Yorktown's girls had a pair of triple winners on the night. Sophomore Larah Beaver won the 100-yard freestyle (:55.06) and teamed with freshmen Kersea Gable, Jessica Extine and Caroline Grasso for a blue ribbon in the 200-yard medley relay (1:56.80) to go with her backstroke win. Extine added victories in the 50-yard freestyle (:25.51) and 100-yard butterfly (1:03.82). Sophomore Sam Mahon grabbed the other YHS 1st in diving.

The boys meet turned out to be a lot more anti-climactic than many people anticipated. Muncie Central made a statement in the first event of the night, whipping Yorktown by more than three seconds in the 200-yard medley relay. Tim Miller, Dan Proctor, Zach Haller and JP Dowdle threw down a 1:42.18 to hand Cameron Watters, Austin Dunn, Adam Voss and Michael Heavilon (1:45.25) their worst defeat of the season. It was a foreboding sign of things to come on Yorktown's Senior Night.

Central built a 45-33 lead over the Tigers coming out of the diving competition--a hole for YHS, but not insurmountable. Yorktown managed to cut that deficit in half following the 500-yard freestyle, leaving the score Muncie Central 66, Yorktown 60 heading into the 200-yard freestyle relay.

But that's where the meet turned, due largely to Yorktown's lack of depth. Central went 1-3 in the relay; the Bearcats were able to put Haller, Proctor, Miller and Dowdle in the water for that event. Yorktown's best swimmers could only watch from the deck as Thommy Brown, Michael Stocker, Joe Eskew and Harrison Slater fought their way to a 2nd place finish, nearly 14 seconds behind the Central 'A' team. The Bearcats had rebuilt their 12-point lead to 76-64, and would never be threatened the rest of the night.

In fact, Central pushed the lead to 88-68 following the 100-yard backstroke, and the Bearcats expanded their advantage to a whopping 101-71 after the 100-yard breaststroke (in which Central finished 1-2-3). There's that weak stroke rearing its ugly head again. I can't put my fingers on the last time a Yorktown High School boys team trailed by 30 points in a dual meet, but it has been quite a while. Let's hope we don't see it again for a long time.

Yorktown showed a great deal of pride in the night's final event. The team of Michael Heavilon, Cameron Watters, Joe Eskew and Aaron Kalley dug deep and held on for a win in the 400-yard freestyle (3:49.84 to 3:50.52) when the meet's outcome was already certain. They could have mailed it in, but didn't. Kudos to you, boys!

Yorktown had two boys double winners last night. Juniors Adam Voss and Michael Heavilon led the way, Voss taking the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.85) and the 100-yard butterfly (:53.94); Heavilon captured the 500-yard freestyle (5:06.24) in addition to his relay blue ribbon. Sophomore Austin Dunn was the Tigers other victor on the night, topping the field in the 100-yard freestyle (:51.20).

The Tiger boys have one final dual meet left at Anderson Highland on February 2nd. Last night's meet wrapped up the regular season for the Lady Tigers, who now turn their attention to the IHSAA championship season.

The Yorktown girls open the tough Fishers Sectional with preliminary swims on Thursday, February 4th.

GO TIGERS!