The Seymour swimming teams celebrated senior night by defeating Bedford North Lawrence on Tuesday night in the Seymour Aquatic Center.
All four seniors either won an individual event of swam on a winning relay as the girls topped the Stars 116-64 to improve to 11-2, and the boys won 108-77 and stand 10-3 on the season.
Owls coach Dave Boggs said Alex Anders, Noah Bullard, Caleb O’Brien and Levi Pfaffenberger had matured throughout their careers. Those swimmers, along with their parents, were introduced before the meet.
“They have all grown immensely in many ways, and they developed into great leaders this year for us,” he said. “It’s hard to say how much they’ve improved the way we train, and the way we swim through everything.
“Some are more tired than others is how it is. That’s why we have a flexible taper. We don’t ‘cookie cut’ it. There is a lot of flexibility every day of the taper so they can fine tune how they feel each day, which is why I think we’re so successful.”
Anders, the only senior girl, helped the Owls win the 200 medley relay, and she placed second in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 100 fly.
Placing first for the Owls were Nasta Yakovlyeva in the 50 free, Katie Turner in the 200 and 500 freestyles, Mary Kate Pritchett in the 100 fly, Kenzie Persinger in the 200 individual medley and Joey Cole in diving.
“The girls were jacked up for the conference Saturday,” Boggs said. “We knew it was an important win for us. I knew we’d be a little bit down tonight; I expected that. Anybody would. I’ve learned you’ve got to pick your spots to excel in.
“We tried to close on conference to some degree, and then really go for sectionals.”
Bullard won the 200 free and 100 fly, Pfafferberger won the 50 free and 100 free, and O’Brien was on the winning 200 medley relay.
Seymour’s other first came from Daniel Hartman in the 100 breaststroke.
“(The Seymour boys) swim off a lot tonight,” Boggs said. “We’re still trying to find a few more surprises. Our deadlines are about due for the IHSAA, so we’re making sure we’ve got the best lineup possible. I think we pretty much know what we’re doing now.”
“Any time you have a conference win that’s good,” Boggs said. “It keeps my administration happy. All our swimmers are about fine-tuning right now. I’m always one stressing the fundamentals, the basics, the details, as we call it every day, every meet, so hopefully by sectional — it better be — we are polished and ready to go.”
The Owls will swim at Columbus East on Thursday night.