By Todd Taylor and Kevin Leibrock
While the Brownsburg swim team didn’t lose a big number of swimmers to graduation, those that are moving on are big losses.
Nick Fox, Tyler Newby, Zach Laffin, and Andrew Voiles will all be missed from last season’s team which won the county championship.
“For the boys’ team graduation hit us pretty hard,” Brownsburg coach Josh Saylor said. “Fox, Laffin, and Voiles were all big contributors and provided great leadership last year.”
Brownsburg earned a No. 17 ranking in the preseason IHSSCA poll, but Saylor knows his squad has big challenges ahead of it.
The Bulldogs will again have a fairly small senior class which will include Ian Geis, Nick Hise, David Perkins, and Doug Day.
“It doesn’t matter if they are a senior, junior, fresh out of middle school or gym class,” Saylor said. “If they show up for the team this year there is a huge opportunity for them.”
Eric Waggoner and Jared Woodings will lead a strong junior class for the Bulldogs – the two competed on the Bulldogs’ winning 200 medley and the winning 400 free relay teams at last year’s county meet.
“We’ve got a real strong junior class,” Saylor said. “All of those guys put in some hard work over the summer. They are a year older, bigger, and stronger. I’m confident we have the guys to be successful.”
Saylor will also look to sophomore Brian Collins and freshman Kasey Cross among others to help chip in for the Bulldogs this season and realizes that repeating as county champions will be a difficult task.
“That will be the goal, to see if we can’t get our team up to speed by the county meet,” Saylor said. “We’ll have our hands full in that regard. I think the boys’ county meet could be very exciting this year.”
The Bulldogs begin their season at Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival Zionsville on Dec. 1.
Avon
Avon enters the new season with the difficult task of replacing two key seniors — Ross and Thomas Dreher.
The Dreher brothers excelled on the diving board, where Ross placed fourth at state last year and Thomas finished sixth. They also scored points for the Orioles in the pool, competing in the 200 free relay and 100 breaststroke.
“We’re going to miss them quite a bit,” Avon coach Jon Karr said. “They were both the real deal in diving as well as swimmers. They scored big time points for us.”
Avon will count on senior Josh Miller to lead the team this season. In 2008-09, Miller won both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke at county. He placed runner-up in both events at sectional.
“Josh Miller has been training very well,” Karr said. “As a senior, we expect him to step up and do some things he’s done before. We’re hoping he can make it to state.”
Leading the Orioles’ distance swimmers will be sophomore Dylan Ferguson, who placed second in the 500 free at county. Karr said two of his other key competitors will be diver Alex Rhoades and freestyle swimmer Kevin Jones.
“Kevin Jones is one of our better kids,” Karr said. “We’re hoping he has a breakthrough year and he has the potential to make some noise at sectionals.”
Among the other returners for Avon are Jarom Jameson, Anthony Shevchenko, Collin Scott, Derek Heeger, Mark Wood, and Daniel Heda.
The Orioles are looking to improve on last year’s solid team season, which saw them finish runner-up in both the county and sectional meets.
Plainfield
The good news for Plainfield is the team only graduated three athletes from last season’s team.
The bad news is one of those athletes was diver Tyler Clingerman.
“Tyler was all-state or honorable mention four years in a row,” Plainfield coach Chris Cavanaugh said. “It’s hard to think of any other athlete at Plainfield that dominated their sport the way he did. We are basically losing a first-place finish in every meet.”
Returning to lead the Quakers will be senior Michael Mohler who won the 200 and 500 free at county and the 500 free at sectional.
At the state finals, Mohler finished second in the 200 free and 12th in the 500 free.
“With our team you always start with Michael,” Cavanaugh said. “He swam in two individual events at state and scored. He’s our best overall swimmer.”
Mohler is part of a strong senior class which includes Lyle Smith, Stephen McGowan, Kyle Authenreith, Nicholas Huether, Jacob Roesler, Sean Ellis, and Travis Brink.
“The senior class is a very good class, most of them are four-year lettermen and we look for them to step into leadership roles,” Cavanaugh said.
Kyle Schmedake returns for the Quakers after a strong sophomore season in which he placed sixth in the 100 fly at sectional.
Schmedake also competed on two relay teams at the sectional meet.
Plainfield will also benefit from a strong incoming freshmen class this season, led by Chris Tice.
“He is a very talented swimmer,” Cavanaugh said. “He leads a very strong freshmen class coming in.”
Tri-West
Led by state qualifier John Van Dyke, the Tri-West boys’ swim team is looking to improve on a solid 2008-09 campaign.
Last year, the Bruins finished a school-best third at conference before placing eighth at sectional.
Van Dyke earned a long list of accomplishments, including sectional and county titles in the 100 fly and 100 free, and conference titles in the 100 fly and 200 free. He advanced to state, where he placed fourth in the 100 fly (50.59) and fifth in the 200 free (1:41.38).
Bruins’ coach Don Dorrell said Van Dyke is ready to lead the team again during his senior season.
“John is bound and determined that he’s going to take some other people with him to state this year,” Dorrell said. “He’s our team leader. When you get fourth in the fly and fifth in the 200 at state, and you’re the top-ranked kid for the 200 coming back, you’re expecting some good things.”
The Bruins will also count on five other seniors — Collin Alvernaz, Brandon Crowe, Lucas Koskey, Dellos Schabel, and Tucker Stout.
The team also has a talented group of juniors, led by Ryan Smiley, Dustin Truax, and Mitch French.
Smiley placed eighth in the 100 free and ninth in the 100 backstroke at sectional last season. Truax was a 12th place finisher in the 50 free at sectional, and also teamed with Van Dyke, Smiley, and graduated senior Jake Wright on last year’s 400 free relay team that broke a school record set in 1984.
With 25 boys on the team, Dorrell has high hopes for the Bruins’ season.
“Last season we went 17-2 in dual meets because we had numbers, having 19 boys on the team last year,” Dorrell said. “We have some depth this year and we’re looking to have similar success.”
Danville
The Danville swim team will be lacking in numbers — only nine swimmers are currently out for the team — but head coach Sandy Beck-Willis is encouraged with the group she has.
Leading the way will be lone senior Daniel Freiburger.
“I think Daniel will do an excellent job for us from a leadership standpoint this season,” Beck-Willis said.
Danville ’s strength will be a large junior class, headed by Colten Erickson, who won the 50 freestyle race at last season’s county meet.
Other juniors returning to the team are Cody Buchanan and Jack Helton. Justin Wilkins returns as the team’s lone sophomore.
Beck-Willis will look to a strong incoming freshmen class to contribute which includes Brant Callahan, Nick Bradshaw, and Arik Bonnett.
“I think we’re looking at putting together two strong relay teams and we have some strong individuals,” Beck-Willis said. “But more importantly, since they are still young we want to improve on their technique and have some fun.”
Cascade
Cascade has a new face at the helm this season — first-year coach Paul Williams.
Williams is new to high school coaching, but brings experience as a former swimmer at South Putnam High School. He has also been involved with summer swim programs at Mill Creek schools.
“I know some of the kids that swam during the summer,” Williams said. “I’ve got some good talent coming in, but it’s a program that’s going to have to be built.”
Cascade will be without two senior swimmers from a year ago — Nick Cecil and Luke Marsh. Marsh was one of the team’s top performers at sectional, finishing ninth in the 50 free and 11th in diving.
Among the swimmers expected to fill the void are senior Alex Rivera (100 free), juniors Clayton Stoutenour (100 breaststroke) and Michael Ferguson (200 IM), and freshmen Levi Musson and Jesse Gilmore.
Williams has not yet finalized his roster, but is hoping for a total of 18-22 swimmers. The Cadets finished fifth at county and 10th at sectional last season. Williams is hoping to improve in those areas, and also compete well in the West Central Conference.
“We definitely have the conference meet circled on our calendar,” Williams said. “That’s where we’ll see where we’ve come as a program. We also have one of the toughest county meets with teams like Avon, Brownsburg, and Plainfield. If our guys want to measure up, those are the teams you really have to gauge against.”
The Cadets begin their season Dec. 1 when they travel to Plainfield.
