Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Edgewood boys' swim teams ready to light up remodeled pools

Head to a swim meet this season and it just won't be the same.

That's a good thing.

Bloomington North will put its new pool to use for a full season for the first time. There's also a new team room thanks to the Eagle Scout project by junior Wyatt Post that revamped the former storage space into a gathering spot.

At South, its refurbished pool will literally shine much brighter with new lights, new paint and decor and spectator seating. At Edgewood, the locker room was updated and new deck tile, a new scoreboard and timing system and two new diving boards were installed.

More: North's Raglin H-T Boys' Swimmer of the Year

The outlook for all three county boys' teams should also be bright again this season.

Bloomington North

The numbers are big for the Bloomington North boys' swim team this season.

The two-time defending sectional champs have a bit of star-power back and plenty of depth, thanks to a roster with 43 swimmers and divers, but All-Area sophomore Jeremiah Boshears, a state qualifier in the breaststroke, isn't one of them, pursuing other interests this season.

It includes eight seniors, but also 16 newcomers, 11 of them freshmen.

"That's a lot of new people to bring up to speed real quick," North coach Max Irwin said. "But it's nice to have a balanced team grade wise, with 11 juniors and 13 sophomores.

"And we have a lot of senior leaders who have been on team and understand the culture and do a good job of passing that down."

Among the seniors are a pair of All-Area picks in Blake Hatcher, North's top distance freestyler who was top three at sectional in the 200 and 500 and Quincy Slaper, one of the team's top sprint free and relay members. Also back are Eli Ladd (breast), who returns after a year off due to a concussion, Chet Paulson (200 free/breast); Ryan Collins (breast) and Liam Hickock (fly).

The junior class is headed by All-Area pick Jack Steiner (50 free/butterfly), whose improved fly will help the medley relay as well; Leo Wang, who should be tough to beat in the 200 individual medley and could end up in the fly or 500 free; Walter Harvey (breast), one of the team captains, Luis Brown (fly) and Charlie Weida's improved endurance make him usable in the 100, 200 or 500.

Top sophomores include Ben Buehler (500 free/backstroke); Ben Dixon (sprint frees); Paul Murphy (distance frees); Hunter Tang (breast) and William Whitaker, who will help in backstroke when he returns from an injury.

And freshmen looking to step up include Jay Stewart, an experienced youth competitor who put up impressive numbers last year (51 second fly, 54 in the back, 47 in 100 free) and could be an IMer and key relay member; Ty Mayer, a tough competitor in the distance frees, and Luke Miller (breast).

Junior Max Miller, sectional runner-up in diving, is loading up the board well as this season gets under way. Senior Jonas Ostlund is switching from backstroke to diving and sophomore Teagan Hojem is swimming fly and diving.

Bloomington South

The Panthers have brought back Phil Cole as co-head coach with Annie Eakin.

There's just one senior, so big and talented junior and freshman classes will be called on to this season.

"The boys team I think is going to really be a lot better than last year," Eakin said. "I'm excited, because of the freshman class we're going to be really strong."

The lone senior is Adam Kovacs, who was third in the fly and IM at sectional last year to earn All-Area honors. He'll be a team captain and a leader. He could return in both events, but could also swim well in the 100 free and breast.

"I want him to have fun and enjoy his senior season," Eakin said. "He can fill a lot of different places for us. He has a lot of things to offer the team."

The junior class includes Gabe Arthur, team captain who did the 500 and back last year, but may switch; Leo Friedman, back in the 500 and looking for a second event; David Edgeworth (back, maybe fly this year) and David Soles (sprint frees).

"I think they're primed for plenty of breakout swimming," Eakin said.

A pair of sophomores look greatly improved in Aidan Halloran (last of a long line of Hallorans), in the breast and Malcom Castronova (distance frees), who both put in a lot of work this summer. Tyler Peterson also looks stronger in the 200 free.

Of the freshmen, there's David Kovacs, Adam's younger brother, who will help right away in the back and IM and also good enough at sprint frees to make two relays; Lukas Paegle (fly/sprint free), brother of girls' standout Kristina, who brings the same desire and work ethic to the boys' team along with a polished butterfly stroke. Freestyler Kian Kadlec (back/free) will be a top qualifier by sectional time and Leo Nelson (breast) has a chance to help on two relays as well.

Junior Michael Tierney is South's top returning diver with senior Issa Al Bulushi moving to Ohio. Also back is sophomore Ashton Dodds.

Edgewood

Last year was wrecked by COVID and this year, the Mustangs lost several swimmers due to focusing on other sports.

With numbers down, head coach Jeff Kohne is focusing more on individual events.

Edgewood has one senior in Gavin Norris, who is sidelined by injury at the moment, but is stepping up in a leadership role. He'll be looking to make some noise in the backstroke.

"He's set some lofty goals," Kohne said. "He wants to get close to a 1:00. I just hope he heals up in time."

There's just one junior in first-year freestyler Matthew Rosemeier and one freshman swimmer in Cohen Bell.

Sophomore Josh Kohne, who did 500 and breast last year, comes back bigger and stronger off cross country and has several options on the table, including 100 and 200 free. Fellow sophomore runner Luke Garrett had similar growth and returns in the 100-200 free and could handle fly for the medley relay. Matthew Phillips (breast) and Sam Gasteneau (back) are also back.

The diving crew includes returning senior Ollie Headdy and returning junior Ian White, while junior Quinn Balcam took first in the season opener.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County boys' teams ready to light up remodeled pools