GREENSBURG, IN – The Batesville high school men’s and women’s swimming program headed to Greensburg Community High School for the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference (EIAC) Championship meet on Saturday, Jan 9.
Overall, the Bulldogs swam extremely well and were able to come home with second and third in the men’s and women’s competitions, respectively.
“I don’t even have the words to describe my feelings about the meet. But overjoyed, excited and shocked are a few,” said head coach Greg McMullen. “This is the ninth overall EIAC meet I’ve been a part of (four as an athlete; now five as coach) and the energy from this meet is always something that blows me away.”
The Bulldogs came out and out performed their seed times in nearly every relay event and had huge drops across multiple events resulting in 26 personal bests and 6 season best times. “We knew we had a ton of potential to swim fast and put up near season best times, but nearly 70% of our swims being a season best (or better) is just an incredible feat.”
Some of the biggest swims came from the Bulldog’s freshman class as Isabel Raab, after an early DQ in the 200 IM, came back from that swim to place sixth in the 100 Fly. Completing a 3-for-3 podium effort in the event. She was also a member of the 200 Freestyle relay that finished in fifth with fellow Freshman Averi Jones, and Juniors Ava Obermeyer and Madelyn Pohlman.
Maria Lopez led the team individually with a 3rd in the 100 Fly and 4th in the 200 IM, and also swam in the 3rd-place and 4th-place finishing 200 Medley and 400 Free relay.
Overall, the women swam to a 3rd place finish. Higher than the team has finished in McMullen’s tenure.
On the men’s side of the meet they swam to an overall finish of second, tying last year’s placement. The meet was tightly contested through the 50 freestyle between Greensburg and Batesville where they were tied. Greensburg briefly took the lead until later in the meet where Batesville seemed to catch a stride with two second place finishes leading the way in the 100 (Will Johnson) and 500 Free (Sean Callahan), 200 Freestyle Relay (Johnson, VanSickle, J. Shroder, M. Tekulve) and 100 Breaststroke (Ben Moster).
“Our gentleman found a way to to dig deep and make those second place finishes happen,” said McMullen. “Will was able to come away with a PR in the 100 Free (49.28), Sean lowered his best 500 Free and our 200 Free Relay hung in for a great race.”
“We couldn’t have asked for a better meet to showcase our racing capabilities. We’ll continue training for our Sectional meet and see what we can put together come February.”
TEAM SCORES
Men
- East Central, 435
- Batesville, 229
- Greensburg, 196
- Connersville, 153
- South Dearborn, 94
- Lawrenceburg, 24
Women
- East Central, 317
- Connersville, 282
- Batesville, 192
- Lawrenceburg, 155
- Greensburg, 131
- South Dearborn, 104
BULLDOG TOP FINISHERS
Men
- 200 Medley Relay (2nd) — Sean Callahan, Ben Moster, Ciaran Tyrer, Joseph Shroder
- 200 Free — Sean Callahan (2nd)
- 200 IM — Benjamin Moster (2nd)
- 50 Free — Will Johnson (2nd)
- 100 Fly — Ciaran Tyrer (3rd)
- 100 Free — Johnson (2nd)
- 500 Free — Callahan (2nd)
- 200 Free Relay (2nd) — Johnson, Derek VanSickle, Matt Tekulve, J. Shroder
- 100 Breast — Moster (3rd)
- 400 Free Relay (2nd) — Tyrer, Moster, Callahan, Johnson
Women
- 200 Medley Relay (3rd) — Taylor Blanton, Sarah Bedel, Maria Lopez, Lilly Wonnell
- 200 IM — Lopez (4th)
- 50 Free — Ava Obermeyer (6th)
- 100 Fly — Maria Lopez (3rd), Wonnell (4th), Isabel Raab (6th)
- 200 Free Relay (5th) — Obermeyer, Averi Jones, Madelyn Pohlman, I. Raab
- 100 Back — Blanton (3rd)
- 400 Free Relay (4th) — Obermeyer, Lily Gellenbeck, Wonnell, Lopez
NOTABLES
- Will Johnson is the first Bulldog swimmer to go under 50.00, the first since 2014, currently ranked #3 all-time at BHS for the 50 and 100 Free.
- Sean Callahan moved into the top 5 on the BHS All-Time times in the 200 Free and is also #4 in the 50 back.
- Callahan and Johnson led scoring for the men with two second place finishes, which also qualifies them for All-EIAC awards for the 2021-2022 season.
UP NEXT
The Batesville Bulldogs swim team will be returning to competition at Lawrenceburg High School on Tuesday and Milan High School on Thursday next week.
