Relays push Owls to victory

Coach Dave Boggs said his Seymour boys swim team was down 16 points midway through Thursday’s home opener with Columbus North.

But it was the relays to the rescue.

To begin the meet, the 200-yard medley relay team of Cam Wiethoff, Kameron Chastain, Sam Montgomery and Chase Schneider swam to a first-place finish.

The final relay race of the meet, the 400 free, is what pushed the Owls ahead of the Bull Frogs 89-87.

Schneider, Chastain, Matt Fouts and David Montgomery finished in first with a time of 3:33.76.

“Any win’s a good win,” Boggs said. “We thought we might be able to come back at the end of the meet, but we lost a couple close races. I almost thought we were too far back to come back.”

A switch in personnel in the 400 free resulted in the Owls earning points with first- and third-place finishes. The third-place team of Wiethoff, Jordan Hartman, Reed McKinney and Daniel Kerrick swam in 3:46.45.

“In that last relay, we pulled David Montgomery from the B relay to the A relay and put Cam Wiethoff in the A to the B relay to guarantee us go 1, 3,” Boggs said. “We were down four, we got 1, 3 and pick up six points and win by two. We talked about that, and if we had to make any changes, we would have to switch the A and B relays around. That’s what worked out tonight to help us.”

Boggs was impressed with the 400 free relay results.

“The relay tonight, they did the same time they did at sectional last year,” he said. “It’s probably the fastest our relays have ever been this early in the year ever in school history. I want that relay to medal at state.”

In the girls meet, the Bull Frogs leaped ahead of the Owls 131-55 by taking first place in every event except the 100-yard breaststroke, which was won by Seymour’s Paiton Chastain (1:14.43).

The Bull Frogs went 1-2-3 in four events and 1-2 in the 500 free and the 400 free relay.

Placing second for the Lady Owls were Chastain (100 free), Alyssa Stuckwisch (100 backstroke), Katherine Moravec (diving) and two relay teams.

Leading the Seymour boys with first-place swims were Fouts (500 free), Wiethoff (100 backstroke and 200 individual medley), Chastain (100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly) and two of three relay teams. The 200 free relay team took second place.

In two of those events, the Owls had a 1-2 finish with David Montgomery claiming second in the breaststroke and Sam Montgomery coming in second in the butterfly.

“We were down 16 points at one point, after the 500,” Boggs said. “We just hung in there. David Montgomery had a good breaststroke finish.”

The Seymour boys and girls opened their season on Tuesday at Jeffersonville, but both teams were defeated. On Thursday, Boggs felt his team had a better mindset.

“I thought we were more in the meet tonight, which is one thing that I talked about (Wednesday) night, be physically, mentally and enthusiastically more into the meet, make it fun,” Boggs said. “We’re getting back in race mode again. The new kids are learning how to race, and the veterans are learning to race again themselves.”

The work will continue in practice before the next meet, Tuesday at New Albany.

“I thought we had too many races where we got outtouched tonight,” Boggs said. “I thought we should have done a little bit better on that on both ends, boys and girls. We’ve just got to keep working hard in practice. We need to improve on the little things, starts, streamlining, breakouts, turns, all that stuff. There are other ways besides swimming fast to make yourself faster, but the technical stuff has to be good.”

Results

At Seymour
Boys
Seymour 89, Columbus North 87
(Seymour top 3 placings)
50 free: 2-Chase Schneider 23.79, 3-David Montgomery 25.20
100 free: 2-Schneider 52.34
200 free: 2-Matt Fouts 1:53.62
500 free: 1-Fouts 5:15.93
100 back: 1-Cam Wiethoff 56.03, 3-Sam Montgomery 1:03.23
100 breast: 1-Kameron Chastain 57.73, 2-D. Montgomery 1:10.47
100 fly: 1-Chastain 55.19, 2-S. Montgomery 58.76
200 IM: 1-Wiethoff 2:07.7
200 free relay: 2-(S. Montgomery, D. Montgomery, Reed McKinney, Fouts) 1:38.76
400 free relay: 1-(Schneider, Fouts, D. Montgomery, Chastain) 3:33.76, 3-(Jordan Hartman, McKinney, Daniel Kerrick, Wiethoff) 3:46.45
200 medley relay: 1-(Wiethoff, Chastain, S. Montgomery, Schneider) 1:41.58
Girls
Columbus North 131, Seymour 55
100 free: 2-Paiton Chastain 58.72
500 free: 3-Mallory Stuckwisch 6:08.03
100 back: 2-Alyssa Stuckwisch 1:08.17
100 breast: 1-Chastain 1:14.43
Diving: 2-Katherine Moravec 141.20
200 free relay: 2-(Brooke Hawkins, Darren Cain, Rosy Clemente-Morales, M. Stuckwisch) 1:56.55, 3-(Jessica Waltrip, Hannah Whitlow, Deborah Thomes, Allison Applewhite) 2:02.31
400 free relay: 3-(M. Stuckwisch, Lacy Bierman, A. Stuckwisch, Chastain) 4:07.05
200 medley relay: 2-(A. Stuckwisch, Chastain, Bierman, Cain) 2:03.7