Vikings also make state in 200 freestyle relay on callback
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Marcus Smith Isaac Whetstone
Boys swimming
Marcus Smith and Isaac Whetstone won two individual events each, and they also formed half of the Tippecanoe Valley 200 freestyle relay team that would advance to the IHSAA state finals on a callback at the Warsaw boys swimming sectional Saturday.
Whetstone won the 200 freestyle in 1:43.58 and the 100 freestyle in 46.22 seconds. Whetstone’s time broke both the Valley school record and the Warsaw sectional record. He will be seeded No. 20 in the 200 and No. 11 in the 100 at the IHSAA state finals, which begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
Smith capped his historic career with his seventh and eighth individual sectional titles.
He won the 100 butterfly in 50.65 seconds to win the sectional title in the event for the second time in his career. The time fell short of his 50.39 that he swam two days earlier at the preliminaries, which broke both the school and sectional record, but was good enough for him to beat runner-up Griffin Brown of Warsaw by 1.26 seconds, and be the No. 14 seed at state.
Then he left the field in his wake in the 100 backstroke, swimming a 50.44 and winning by 4.73 seconds over runner-up Connor Turner of Culver Academy. He set the Warsaw pool record in addition to school and sectional records while winning the sectional title in the event for the third straight year.
He will be the No. 7 seed at state in that event.
In addition to two 100 butterfly and three 100 backstroke sectional titles for his career, he also won three 200 individual medley sectional titles. Smith chose not to swim that event this year.
The 200 freestyle relay making state was somewhat more uncertain. The team finished second in the event in 1:28.29. Warsaw won in 1:28.19.
Valley did not meet the state cut time of 1:27.92, but they received a callback Sunday morning when the state heat sheets came out. The team, which consists of Smith, Tucker Whetstone, Aaden Bowers and Isaac Whetstone, will be seeded No. 20 at state.
Smith swam an opening leg of 21.06 seconds, which is the new Valley school record for the 50 freestyle. Isaac Whetstone swam a 20.61 for his anchor leg.
Culver Academy, who was third in 1:28.42, also received a state callback.
Valley’s 400 freestyle relay team, which broke the sectional record in 2024, was disqualified for an illegal exchange.
Other Valley results included Tucker Whetstone, who was third in the 100 butterfly behind Smith and Brown and 10th in the 50 freestyle; Bowers, who was 14th in the 50 freestyle; and Gavin Leininger, who placed fifth out of nine divers.
Valley finished fifth out of 12 teams with 154 points. Culver Academy won with 454 points.
Pioneer
Pioneer seniors Ian Kitchell and Austin Brooke finished third and sixth in the 50 freestyle in 22.45 seconds and 22.67 seconds, respectively.
Kitchell was also fifth in the 100 freestyle in 50.01 seconds, and Brooke was also fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.64.
Other Pioneer results included Eli Hines, who was 13th in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.29; Tayt Smith, who was 14th right behind Hines in the backstroke in 1:14.29; and Fletcher Smith, who was 16th in the 500 freestyle in 6:45.07.
Pioneer was also fifth in the 200 medley relay, seventh in the 200 freestyle relay and ninth in the 400 freestyle relay.
Tayt Smith and Jake Felker joined Kitchell and Brooke in the 200 medley relay. Fletcher Smith and Landen Johnson joined Hines and Felker on the 200 freestyle relay. Hines and Felker joined Kitchell and Brooke on the 400 freestyle relay.
Pioneer scored 135 points and finished in sixth place.
Rochester
The 200 freestyle relay was the only event final which had a Rochester presence, and the Zebra relay consisting of Brevin Nicholson, Grant Bailey, Tanner Hamilton and Reece Johnson took eighth in 1:52.44.
Johnson, the team’s lone senior, was also the top individual performer, finishing 10th in the 200 individual medley in 2:27.03 and 11th in the 100 backstroke in 1:08.29.
He was partially or totally responsible for 35 of the 55 team points.
Nicholson also raced in two consolation finals, taking 15th in the 200 freestyle in 2:15.98 and 14th in the 500 freestyle in 6:06.15.
Bailey took 16th in the 100 freestyle in 1:00.65.
Nicholson, Bailey, Hamilton and Johnson also combined to place 10th in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:28.94.
Rochester, whose team consisted of five swimmers, finished in 11th place.
To make state, an individual or relay needed to win their sectional, meet a difficult state qualifying standard or be one of the fastest non-qualifiers to fill out the field of 32 for each event.
The top four divers advanced to the diving regional at Valparaiso Tuesday.
WARSAW BOYS SWIMMING SECTIONAL RESULTS: Culver Academy 454, Warsaw 437, Plymouth 236, Logansport 183, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 154, PIONEER 135, Manchester 132, Lewis Cass 124, Columbia City 101, Wabash 92, ROCHESTER 55, Northfield 6
Scoring on 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for individual events and 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22 basis for relays
State qualifiers plus all Rochester, Valley and Pioneer results
200 medley relay
1. Culver Academy (Turner, Collins, MacDonald, Neary) – 1:37.05, 5. Pioneer (Tayt Smith, Austin Brooke, Ian Kitchell, Jake Felker) – 1:53.43
200 freestyle
1. Isaac Whetstone (TV) – 1:43.58, 15. Brevin Nicholson (RHS) – 2:15.98
200 individual medley
1. Turner (CMA) – 2:06.33, 10. Reece Johnson (RHS) – 2:27.03
50 freestyle
1. MacDonald (CMA) – 22.00 seconds, 3. Ian Kitchell (PIO) – 22.45, 6. Austin Brooke (PIO) – 22.67, 10. Tucker Whetstone (TV) – 23.58, 14. Aaden Bowers (TV) – 24.46
Diving (top four advance to regional)
1. Parrott (WAR) – 545.50 points, 2. Kretsch (WAR) – 386.45, 3. Rogers (LOG) – 332.05, 4. Stockton (CMA) – 299.65, 5. Gavin Leininger (TV) – 282.10
100 butterfly
1. Marcus Smith (TV) – 50.65 seconds, 3. Tucker Whetstone (TV) – 53.94
100 freestyle
1. Isaac Whetstone (TV) – 46.22 seconds, 2. Collins (CMA) – 47.46, 5. Ian Kitchell (PIO) – 50.01, 16. Grant Bailey (RHS) – 1:00.65
500 freestyle
1. Neary (CMA) – 5:08.31, 14. Brevin Nicholson (RHS) – 6:06.15, 16. Fletcher Smith (PIO) – 6:45.07
200 freestyle relay
1. Warsaw (Manwaring, Farrar, Swinehart, Brown) – 1:28.19, 2. Valley (Marcus Smith, Tucker Whetstone, Aaden Bowers, Isaac Whetstone) – 1:28.29, 3. Culver Academy (Dorrel, Collins, Neary, MacDonald) – 1:28.42, 7. Pioneer (Eli Hines, Fletcher Smith, Landen Johnson, Jake Felker) – 1:52.09, 8. Rochester (Brevin Nicholson, Grant Bailey, Tanner Hamilton, Reece Johnson) – 1:52.44
100 backstroke
1. Marcus Smith (TV) – 50.44 seconds, 11. Reece Johnson (RHS) – 1:08.29, 13. Eli Hines (PIO) – 1:14.29, 14. Tayt Smith (PIO) – 1:15.15
100 breaststroke
1. Collins (CMA) – 59.74 seconds, 5. Austin Brooke (PIO) – 1:03.64
400 freestyle relay
1. Warsaw (Brown, Farrar, Manwaring, Swinehart) – 3:15.37, 9. Pioneer (Ian Kitchell, Jake Felker, Eli Hines, Austin Brooke) – 3:55.23, 10. Rochester (Brevin Nicholson, Grant Bailey, Tanner Hamilton, Reece Johnson) – 4:28.94, DQ. Valley (Isaac Whetstone, Tucker Whetstone, Aaden Bowers, Marcus Smith)
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