The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1073799
The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, Januar y 23, 2019 B- 3 PAC Continued from page 1 ly helped me focus on really wanting to get that record." During Saturday's finals, Natalie Bohnert swam the first two legs of the 200 -yard individual medley – the but- terfly and the backstroke – in 58.52 seconds, more than three seconds ahead of the 1:01.94 split she put up during Thursday's pre - liminaries. "She really took it out hard," Mike Bohnert said. "Once she was under a min- ute for the first 100 with the butterfly and the back- stroke, she was in a pret- ty good. I figured that 2:13 was going to be easily do- able, but she even went fast- er than that." "I felt pretty good at the beginning of it," Natalie Bohnert said. "I went out telling myself that I knew I could get it. So I went out as fast as I could at the begin- ning and tried to hold onto it the best I could." "I was a little more ner- vous for the backstroke just because I knew that I was going to need to swim a re- ally fast time to be able to get that," Natalie Bohnert add- ed. "But I knew with all the hard work that we've done this year, that it was more than possible." Mike Bohnert noted that his daughter's time in the 100 -yard backstroke was just 14/100th of a second off the state standard of 57.68 seconds – which is based on the average 16th-place time during the state finals over the last three years. Last season, after plac- ing first in the 100 -yard backstroke with a time of 59.15 seconds during the PAC Championship, Natalie Bohnert dropped her time to 58.28 seconds while win- ning the event two weeks lat- er during the sectional meet at Jasper. "That's what we're work- ing towards, is trying to be in that top 16 at state at pre- lims," Mike Bohnert said. "So we'll be working on try- ing to get that time down. We're trying to hit that 56 (second) mark and, hope- fully, we'll had somebody a little closer to her to give her that push." "I need to cut about a sec- ond more to make it around the top eight," Natalie Bohnert said. "So we've got a goal set, and I think that we may be able to reach it." Meyer, who placed second in diving during the PAC Championship as a fresh- man last year, took top hon- ors this year with an 11-dive score of 321.10 points – 26.30 points ahead of Southridge's Evie Sherer, who placed sec- ond with 294.80 points. "She's a really strong div- er and works really hard at it," Mike Bohnert said of Meyer. "She did what she's done all year, just nice and steady. Hopefully, she'll get to sectional in a couple of weeks and be ready to go and get out to regional, and maybe work towards mak- ing it from regional to the state meet." Freshman Emma McKin- ney, meanwhile, placed third in diving with an 11-dive score of 271.00 points. "She's gotten stronger all year long, and her dives have cleaned up as the year has went on," Mike Bohnert said. "In middle school, you're just doing three dives, and then five at the PACs, so she's gotten a lot more prac- tice time, a lot more work at it." In addition, Bohnert, McKinney and Meyer teamed up with sophomore Charlotte Dudenhoeffer to place second in the 200 -yard medley relay with a sea- son-best time of 2:03.68, beating their previous sea- son-best time of 2:06.72. "Our medley relay was second place, less than two seconds off the first-place time, and that's a whole brand new team, except for Natalie," Mike Bohnert said. "Last year, we had three se- niors on it." During preliminaries on Thursday, Bohnert, Duden- hoeffer, McKinney and Meyer placed second in the 200 -yard medley relay with a season-best time of 2:06.72, beating their previous sea- son-best time of 2:13.04. Bohnert, Dudenhoeffer and Meyer also teamed up with freshman Avery Hunt to place third in the 400 -yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:25.55. During preliminar- ies on Thursday, Bohnert, Dudenhoeffer, Meyer and freshman Madison Riley teamed up to place third with a season-best time of 4:19.24, beating their pre - vious season-best time of 4:25.00. Dudenhoeffer, after plac- ing third in the 500 -yard freestyle with a personal re- cord time of 6:22.80 during preliminaries on Thurs- day, beating her previous PR time of 6:29.20, placed third in the event during Sat- urday's finals with a time of 6:25.44. In addition, Dudenhoef- fer, who placed third in the 200 -yard freestyle with a personal record time of 2:18.84 during preliminar- ies on Thursday, beating her previous PR time of 2:22.91, placed fifth in the event during Saturday's fi - nals with a time of 2:22.99. "She threw up her best times at prelims, and it's hard to duplicate it," Mike Bohnert said of Dudenhoef- fer. "She probably was a lit- tle tense and tightened up a little bit in this round. We've just got to work on calming down and being ready to go for the finals." McKinney tied with Hen- trup for fifth place in the 100 -yard breaststroke with a season-best time of 1:18.81, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 1:21.74. During Thursday's pre- liminaries, McKinney placed sixth with a sea- son-best time of 1:21.74, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 1:23.57. Meyer placed eighth in the 100 -yard butterfly with a time of 1:22.74. During Thursday's preliminaries, Meyer finished eighth with a season-best time of 1:21.30, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 1:28.14. Hunt placed 12th in the 50 -yard freestyle with a time of 34.02 seconds. During Thursday's preliminaries, Hunt finished 12th with a season-best time of 32.95 seconds, beating her pre - vious season-best time of 33.24 seconds. In addition, the team of Hunt, McKinney and fresh- men Sarah Fenwick and Morgan Sallee placed eighth in the 200 -yard freestyle re- lay with a time of 2:14.46. During Thursday's prelim- inaries, the team of Hunt, Fenwick, McKinney and Riley placed eighth with a season-best time of 2:11.62, beating their previous sea- son-best time of 2:11.84. During preliminaries on Thursday, Jan 17: • Riley placed 8th in the 100 -yard backstroke with a season-best time of 1:16.93, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 1:17.99, and placed 10th in the 200 -yard freestyle with a season-best time of 2:29.84, besting her previous season-best time of 2:35.00. Riley, however, was unable to compete during Saturday's finals due to ill- ness. "You just hate to see it for her, to do all that work and then come in, and not feel good on that big day," Mike Bohnert said. "But things happen and you've just kind of go on from it." • Hunt placed 14th in the 100 -yard freestyle with a season-best time of 1:14.95, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 1:19.38 • Sallee placed 15th in the 200 -yard individual medley with a time of 3:53.23, and 20th in the 100 -yard breast- stroke with a time of 1:54.84. • Fenwick placed 15th in the 500 -yard freestyle with a time of 8:36.95, and 20th in the 50 -yard freestyle with a time of 36.93 seconds. As a team, Pike Cen- tral scored a total of 157.5 points, trailing first-place Tell City (261 points), Southridge (237.5), South Spencer (195) and Heritage Hills (172). Gibson Southern (145) was sixth, followed by Tecumseh (71) and Forest Park (62). BOYS: Sophomore Gar- rett Boyd finished second in diving while junior Brayden Cooper finished third in the 50 -yard freestyle as the Chargers finished sixth in the PAC Boys' Swimming and Diving Championship. Boyd, who finished fifth in diving during last year's PAC Championship with an 11-dive score of 176.60, placed second with an 11-dive score of 182.45 during Saturday's finals. "Garrett started last year and has gotten better, and (diving coach) Missy (Sparks) has got him doing harder dives as the year's gone on," Mike Bohnert said. "He's gotten stronger and stronger at it. He had one bad dive there at the end, but, other than that, he did really well." Cooper, after placing fourth in the 50 -yard free- style with a personal re- cord time of 25.35 seconds during preliminaries on Thursday, beating his pre- vious PR time of 25.51 sec- onds, placed third in the event during Saturday's fi- nals with yet another per- sonal record time of 24.93 seconds. "We were hoping he would break that 25 (sec- ond) mark, and got under it to 24.93," Mike Bohnert said. "He's been putting in a lot more yardage and a lot quicker times, so that's helped a lot." Cooper also placed fifth in the 100 -yard backstroke with a time of 1:07.22 during Saturday's finals. During Thursday's preliminaries, Cooper placed fifth with a personal record time of 1:06.51, beating his previ - ous PR time of 1:07.40. In addition, Cooper teamed up with Boyd and juniors A.J. Hill and Sam Theising to place fifth in the 200 -yard freestyle re - lay with a season-best time of 1:53.04, beating their pre- vious season-best time of 1:54.09. During Thursday's preliminaries, Boyd, Coo- per, Hill and Theising placed sixth with a time of 1:54.65. Boyd, Cooper, Hill and Theising also teamed up to place fifth in the 400 -yard freestyle with a season-best time of 4:20.24, beating their previous season-best time of 4:21.60. During Thursday's preliminaries, Boyd, Cooper, Hill and The- ising placed fifth with a sea- son-best time of 4:21.60, beating their previous sea- son-best time of 4:23.76. Theising placed sixth in the 200 -yard freestyle with a personal record time of 2:14.35, beating his previ- ous PR time of 2:19.46, and eighth in the 500 -yard free- style with a time of 6:15.37. During Thursday's prelim- inaries, Theising placed ninth in the 200 -yard free- style with a time of 2:21.18 and eighth in the 500 -yard freestyle with a time of 6:22.88. Hill placed 10th in the 500 -yard freestyle with a time of 6:52.34, and 11th in the 200 -yard freestyle with a time of 2:30.83. During Thursday's preliminar- ies, Hill placed 11th in the 500 -yard freestyle with a time of 6:58.95 and 11th in the 200 -yard freestyle with a time of 2:31.74. During preliminaries on Thursday, Jan 17: • Boyd placed 14th in the 100 -yard freestyle with a personal record time of 1:05.60, beating his previ- ous PR time of 1:07.63. • Sophomore Noah Rus- sell placed 15th in the 100 -yard breaststroke with a time of 1:49.65 and 19th in the 50 -yard freestyle with a personal record time of 32.25 seconds, beating his previous PR time of 34.44 seconds. As a team, Pike Central scored a total of 83 points, trailing first-place Heritage Hills (324 points), Tell City (240), Tecumseh (157), Gibson Southern (141) and Southridge (119). South Spencer (81) was seventh, followed by Forest Park (26). Pike Central will compete in the sectional preliminar- ies on Thursday, Jan. 31, at Jasper, with the finals set for Saturday, Feb. 2. Pike Central High School sophomore Jenna Meyer competes in the girls' 100-yard butterfly during the Pocket Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship finals on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Tecumseh. Meyer, who placed eighth in the event with a time of 1:22.74, placed first in diving with an 11-dive score of 321.10 points. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore Charlotte Dudenhoef- fer competes in the girls' 200-yard freestyle during the Pock- et Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship fi- nals on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Tecumseh. Dudenhoeffer placed fifth with a time of 2:22.99. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School freshman Emma McKinney swims the breaststroke leg of the girls' 200-yard medley relay during the Pocket Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Cham- pionship finals on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Tecumseh. McKinney teamed up with senior Natalie Bohnert and sophomores Char- lotte Dudenhoeffer and Jenna Meyer to place second with a time of 2:03.68. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Sam Theising competes in the boys' 200-yard freestyle during the Pocket Athletic Conference Swimming and Div- ing Championship finals on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Tecumseh. Theising placed sixth with a time of 2:14.35. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior A.J. Hill competes in the boys' 200-yard freestyle during the Pocket Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Cham- pionship finals on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Tecumseh. Hill placed 11th with a time of 2:30.83. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Brayden Cooper competes in the boys' 100-yard backstroke during the Pocket Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship finals on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Tecumseh. Cooper placed fifth with a time of 1:07.22. Ed Cahill photo