TIGERS DOMINATE REBELS

Yorktown swimmers and divers spread the wealth last night as the Tigers swept their meet with Muncie South. The YHS girls defeated the Rebels 125-53, while the YHS boys had an even easier time, topping South
128-46. South won just one of the 24 events in the meet--Jamie Smith claiming the girls 100-yard freestyle (1:05.99).

Yorktown head coach Brad Grieshop used the meet against the obviously overmatched Rebels to give several Tigers a chance to shine, and they came through. Junior Joe Eskew made the most of his opportunities, grabbing four first place finishes on the night. Eskew won the 200-yard freestyle (2:16.81) and 500-yard freestyle (6:05.87), teamed with sophomore Austin Dunn, senior Harrison Slater and junior Tyler Donges for victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:46.50), and joined freshman Thommy Brown, senior Cameron Watters and junior Adam Voss to top the field in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:49.84).

The Tigers had several other multiple winners against South. Voss and Dunn matched Eskew with four blue ribbon performances; Voss took the 200-yard IM (2:07.05) and 100-yard backstroke (57.49), teamed with Dunn, junior Michael Heavilon and Watters for first in the 200-yard medley relay (1:50.24), and anchored the 400-free relay. Dunn added victories in the 50-yard freestyle (24.11) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.80) to his relay blue ribbons.

Watters was a three-time winner, twice in relays, and in the 100-yard freestyle (54.06). Heavilon was first to the wall in the 100-yard butterfly (58.16) and part of the pacesetting medley relay. Donges led the way in diving, winning with 180.60 points.

On the girls side, sophomore Larah Beaver was a triple winner. Beaver swam to victory in the 200-yard freestyle (2:05.06), joined freshman Caroline Grasso, junior Gabby LaVoie and freshman Jillian Buche on the blue ribbon 200-yard medley relay team (2:07.10), and teamed with LaVoie, senior Heather Elston and sophomore Chappell Railey to take the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:52.54).

Grasso, LaVoie, Buche and Elston added individual wins to their relay contributions. Grasso outtouched the field in the 50-yard freestyle (27.68), Buche topped the competition in the 100-yard butterfly (1:17.13), and Elston won the 100-yard backstroke (1:13.37). Railey's second blue ribbon came in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with senior Kara Martin, sophomore Kirsten Nickoli and junior Rachel Reising (4:36.98).

The Tigers also got wins from freshman Jessica Extine in the 200-yard IM (2:27.29), sophomore Sam Mahon in diving (201.75 points), freshman Kersea Gable in the 500-yard freestyle (6:18.71), and sophomore Chelsea Watters in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:22.07). The breast was the closest race of the night, with Watters edging LaVoie by a tenth of a second.

In all, 13 girls took home at least one blue ribbon for Yorktown last night.

The Tigers hit the practice pool today before some socializing and team bonding tonight--the pre-conference spaghetti dinner, and the boys trip to have their hair bleached blonde.

Next up--the Hoosier Heritage Conference meet. Diving preliminaries will be held Thursday night, with diving finals and swimming events Saturday morning, all at New Palestine High School.

GO TIGERS!