FLOYD KNOBS
Seymour’s Bryce Miller said swimmers must have a lot of confidence when they compete in a big meet like a sectional.
He said he was full of confidence going into the Floyd Central Sectional finals Saturday and he carried that attitude over to two first-place finishes and a trip to the boys’ state meet at the Natatorium in Indianapolis this week.
Floyd Central won the sectional for the sixth year in a row with 432 points. New Albany was second with 342, Madison had 339 and the Owls scored 315.
Miller said he was a little disappointed with his second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle early in the meet and he wasn’t going to be denied in the 100 free later.
He won the 100 free in 48.38 to edge Kaleb Kruer of New Albany, who clocked a 48.86.
It was Kruer who won the 50 free in 21.24 leaving Miller second at 21.48.
“After the 50 I was kind of disappointed,” the Owl senior said. “I was .24 seconds away from getting (to state) in that and it made me stronger for the 100 and I went out there and did my thing.”
Miller teamed up with Paul Montgomery, Clayton Greenawalt and Pedro Cerino to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:17.50. New Albany was second at 3:19.67.
Greenawalt is a junior, Montgomery is a sophomore and Cerino is a freshman.
Montgomery said he has gone to the Natatorium several times to watch older siblings swim and he very much wanted to keep the family tradition going.
“I actually went for my siblings,” he said. “I watched my siblings swim there. They were all sprinters and they all went to state. Now it looks like I’m living up to the legends. If we can do what we did today we could break our own record.”
He said he had butterflies before the relay.
“I was nervous.,” Montgomery said. “In the past meets I hadn’t performed as well in that relay as I had in my previous 100. I was going for at most a 51. I went a 49 something. When I saw 49 I just blanked out. That was unheard of. The rest of the relay just did amazing. Everyone did their part. I’m very excited. We went in saying we will make state and we did it.
“I’m just going to practice the best I can. I hope we don’t have any more snow cancellations. We’ll cross our fingers.”
Miller, who swims third in the relay said, “We had planned on being about tied with New Albany up until Clay. Their last swimmer (Kruer) is their best one and when I went I said to myself ‘I’ve got to get a big enough lead to where Pedro can do what he does best and win it for us.’
“I got a big enough lead and we won. I’m very happy with this team.”
He said “by far” this is his biggest win in swimming.
Cerino said he is also confident.
“I don’t want to sound too loud but I’m looking forward to breaking every record,” said the youngest member of the group. “I knew I could go faster and Bryce gave me a big enough lead. I had to finish well. I had a 46-second split. That‘s one of my fastest.”
He has swam at the Natatorium in age-group meets.
“My first time there I was like “Oh, my. I didn’t know it was going to be that big.” Cerino said. “Everybody is going to be screaming. I’m excited and ready to go.”
Miller said he attended the state meet at the Natatorium last year and is looking forward to the trials Friday.
“It’s amazing,” Miller said.
Coach Dave Boggs said, “Bryce swam well today. We thought he might be able to win that 50. He swam as good a race as he could today. When you have a swim like that you can’t really be too upset. He dropped .85 of a second.”
The Owls were proud of the relay winner.
“We just wanted to leave everything we had out there,” Greenawalt said.
He said of his 51-second split in the relay, “It’s a bit of a drop from what I’ve been doing. I think my entrance was OK. My turns were a little rough. That’s where I was losing most of my speed.”
Greenawalt said this is the most exciting thing he has done in swimming.
“(Winning) feels pretty good. It’s a nice opportunity. It’s exciting.”
Greenawalt said he has never been to the Natatorium and is looking forward to going there Friday. “I’m looking forward to the experience and just being able to say we accomplished that. It gives us another shot to drop more time.”
The Owls are two seconds off the school record.
“I told them they had to be strong and train well, be smart and have enough left for that last relay.” Boggs said. “I told them it was going to pay off and obviously it did today. It’s a way to motivate them, to swim through entire sets throughout the season correctly.”
Boggs said in the trials last Friday night “we just cruised and saved our energy, especially when we had to do Friday night-Saturday afternoon. You have to be smart with your energy usage.
“Bryce did another low 48, Paul led off with a 49. He blew his 100 free earlier this afternoon away, and Pedro had a 46.7. Clay had to come off a 500 and do two relays.
“It might be a little different with Clay getting a little more rest.”
Cerino was second in the 200-yard individual medley in 1:58.59, and second in the 100 fly in 53.44, and Aaron Drake, Greenawalt, Miller and Cerino teamed up to go 1:30.52 to place second in the 200 free relay.
Montgomery was fourth in the 100 free and Drake was fourth in the 50 freestyle.
“With the season we’ve had, with the COVID and all,” Boggs said, “kids have missed practice here and there, it’s been a crazy, wacky year unfortunately. We swam very well today overall. Everyone is just happy we got here today.”
Trials begin at noon on Friday.
also won the 100 free.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Floyd Central Sectional
Teams: Floyd Central 432, New Albany 342, Madison 339, Seymour 315, Jennings County 119, Jeffersonville 115, Providence 104, Charlestown 50, Switzerland County 44, Southwestern (Hanover) 43, Henryville 34, Scottsburg 8, Salem 4, Silver Creek 3
First place plus Seymour results:
200 medley relay: Madison 1:40.09; 5-(Paul Montgomery, Chaze Combs, Blake Stark, Aaron Drake) 1:54.08
200 free: Evan Dickson (Jef) 1:46.45; 8) Clayton Greenawalt 1:56.22, 9) Grant Smith 1:57.71, 11-Lawrence Simons 1:59.05
200 IM: Justin Banks (Mad) 1:57.17; 2) Pedro Cerino 1:58.59, 11) Stark 2:21.33, 13-Combs 2:38.89
50 free: Kaleb Kruer (NA) 21:24; 2) Miller 21.48, 4) Drake 23.49
Diving: Evan Thomas (FC) 564.20; 6) Kaleb Brown 237.80
100 fly: Marty Finerty (FC) 52.71; 2) Cerino 53.44, 10) Stark 59.49
100 free: Miller 48.38, 4) Montgomery 51.10, 8) Smith 53.34
500 free: Dickson 4:55.89; 7) Greenawalt 5:15.31, 9) Larry Simons 5:16.90
200 free relay: New Albany 1:29.62; 2-(Drake, Greenawalt, Miller, Cerino) 1:30.52
100 back: Carter Schutte (Mad) 55.68; 5) Montgomery 1:01.54, 13) Drake 1:07.68, 14-Cadin Harriss 1:11.04
100 breast: Banks 58.55; 14-Combs 1:19.48
400 free relay: Seymour (Montgomery, Greenawalt, Miller, Cerino) 3:17.50