CENTER GROVE — It was a great day for the Mooresville swimming and diving team during the IHSAA Sectional at Center Grove. The Pioneers scored 214 points as a team to place third amongst some of the top swim programs in the state.
Prior to this year, Mooresville had never placed higher than sixth place, according to head coach Jonathan Theriac. Mooresville will also send a swimmer to the state finals and two divers to regionals after the successful day.
Junior Lylah Theriac has proved every year that she can compete. She has nearly wiped out the record board back home. She swam in two individual events and broke her own records in both of them. She also took home first place in both of them and will be swimming for a state title this weekend at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Preliminary swims are Friday with the finals on Saturday.
Theriac won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:01.61 and then later swam a stunning 54.58 in the 100-yard butterfly.
In the 1-meter diving competition, sophomore Tatum Humphrey had another excellent performance, scoring a 413.65 in her 11 dives to earn first place. Sophomore Mackenzie Pierson finished third with her score of 383.45. Both Pierson and Humphrey advanced to regionals that were in Jasper on Tuesday, after press time.
“They work hard all season,” Mooresville diving coach Cory Ervin said. “We are one of those sports that does two-a-day practices, so they have to put in the time. We focus on the six keys on diving in the zone, and one of those is having fun. This is where they kind of get to let loose and just do what they enjoy doing. Tatum is good when it comes to get training and she is better when it comes to competing. I don’t know if she truly understands how well she competes yet. She has a natural behavior to be able to separate herself from whatever else is going on, to trust in her training and let things happen. She doesn’t know how she does it, but it works for her.”
The 200-yard medley relay team of Theriac, seniors Cristina Eichenberger and Marissa Lewis and sophomore Morgan Gainey placed fourth with a time of 1:55.78 that broke the score record.
Gainey, Theriac and sophomores Aleah Marine and Danielle Gilman also broke a school record in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:52.06.
Eichenberger also swam the 100-yard backstroke and took 10th (1:06.63). Lewis swam in the 100-yard breaststroke for 14th (1:16.84) and senior Arabella Brown swam the 100-yard butterfly and placed 13th (1:17.74). Gainey swam the 50-yard freestyle (eighth, 26.38) and the 500-yard freestyle (11th, 5:46.01). Gilman took 11th in the 100-yard freestyle (59.74) and Marine took 12th (1:01.38).
Martinsville competes
Martinsville junior Liliana Huston competed in the 1-meter diving competition and placed sixth with an 11-dive score of 303.45. With the tough cut for diving, Huston missed the regional advancement with only the top four going, but she finished her junior season with a strong performance and improvements over last year.
Junior Kendall Garrison placed 11th in diving with her score of 237.55.
Junior Kiley Etter swam in the 200-yard freestyle event. She placed 16th with a time of 2:27.52. Junior Brianna Henselmeier swam the 50-yard freestyle and finished 14th with a 27.44.
