Lebanon, WeBo split in pool dual

Jan. 28—LEBANON — In the final co-ed dual meet of the year for both teams, Lebanon and Western Boone battled in the pool on Thursday night.

Each team came away with a victory, with the WeBo girls winning 115-69 and the Lebanon boys winning 141-43.

The Western Boone girls finished the year 12-1 in dual meets.

"I am so proud of these girls, they have held strong until the end," Western Boone head coach Hayley Eadie said. "We're just excited for sectionals. We didn't quite get our goal of being undefeated, but that has also kind of been a good motivation and pushed them harder."

The Stars won all but one event.

Western Boone won the medley relay, with the team of Arianna Stieber, Adelaide Jones, Micaela Stieber and Ella Jones finishing in 2:03.55.

Micaela Stieber won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:09.77 and the butterfly in 1:06.66, Arianna Stieber won the IM in 2:20.52 and backstroke in 1:04.40, Ella Jones won the 50-yard freestyle in 27.82, Leelah Fettig won diving with a score of 251.45, Emma Mitchell won the 500 in 5:54.39 and Adelaide Jones won the breaststroke in 1:17.13.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Ella Jones, Katherine Aliff, Adelaide Jones and Micaela Stieber won in 1:49.72 and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Rashel Anderson, Aliff, Adelaide Jones and Arianna Stieber won in a time of 4:01.88.

Western Boone also had runner-up finishes from Anderson in the backstroke and Maisa Kent-Doolan in diving.

"This is a good meet to have right before sectionals," Eadie said. "No matter what, we love to face Lebanon. There is that rivalry, and you get a little bit extra pumped up to go against them and it's fun. For the girls, it is a great week to have it, because it gets us ready to go for the sectional."

Lebanon's lone win came from Cora Dial in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 59.37.

The Lady Tigersharks had runner-up finishes from the medley relay team of Caroline Tilford, Kylee Rodriguez, Skylar Ritchie and Sydney Daisley; Lily Gascho in the 200-free and 500; Anna Hale in the IM and butterfly; Paige Howard in the 50; the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Howard, Dial, Gascho and Hale; Dial in the backstroke; Ritchie in the breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Hale, Howard, Gascho and Dial.

"We knew it was going to be an uphill battle against WeBo," Lebanon head coach Craig Howe said. "We just wanted to come out and race our best. This was just the second meet back for Paige Howard, and she looked a lot better today and having Cora back in individuals has helped. I was really happy with how they competed."

The Lebanon boys won all but one event as well.

The medley relay team of John Gascho, Rylan Rule, Zach Perrine and Gabriel Goff won in a time of 1:52.41.

Gabriel Goff won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:00.44 and 500 in 5:26.59, Zach Perrine won the IM in 2:20.72, Grayson Goff won the 50 in 23.59 and 100-free in 52.83, Davohn Ziesmer won diving with a score of 205.90 and Rylan Rule won the butterfly in 58.79 and the breaststroke in 1:11.77.

Lebanon won the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of Rule, Corbin Daisley, Ryan Shepherd and Grayson Goff won in 1:39.75. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Grayson Goff, Perrine, Tate DeLaRosa and Gabriel Goff won in 3:48.77.

The Tigersharks got runner-up finishes from the medley relay team of DeLaRosa, Daisley, Shepherd and Ausgustine Prescott; Daisley in the 200-free and 500; Parker Lawson in the IM and breaststroke; Camden Perrine in the 50 and 100-free; Riley Newman in diving; Zach Perrine in the butterfly; Gascho in the backstroke, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Camden Perrine, Adam Creek, Lawson and Taylor O'Brien.

"We went with a pretty strong line-up, other than we put some freshmen relays together so they can go for the freshmen records," Howe said. "They just missed the 200-free relay record, so now they want to be the prelim team at the sectional. I like that competitive drive they have."

Western Boone got a win from Tanner Weakley in the backstroke in a time of 1:03.95. The Stars also finished second in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of John Jackson, Weakley, Daniel Talbott and Thomas Harem.

"I think our boys got some good motivation from conference, where we saw some good time drops," Eadie said. "They are working really hard in practice and giving it that little extra. It will be good to have this couple of weeks to themselves to work on some things."

At the diving break, Lebanon honored their senior class.

Howe said the the group has done a great job in filling a lot of different roles.

"One of the things we always talk about with our seniors is what will their legacy be," Howe said. "We have had some top-end girls graduate over the past few years, and these girls have really started to step up and fill those roles. And I hope that is the legacy they are leaving, stepping up and showing the younger kids what it takes to be successful. The boys have a younger team, but these seniors and showing the younger guys what it takes and are getting them excited for the future."

The Western Boone boys have two boys-only meets on Feb. 1 and Feb. 7. The three other teams are off until their sectional.

The Lebanon girls start their sectional on Feb. 3 at Lafayette Jeff.

"We have to make sure that our second and third swimmers in events realize they have an opportunity to make it back to Saturday," Howe said. "They may not make finals, but they can get into the consolations and score points there. As a team, I think we can battle for the top-4. I'm pretty sure Zionsville is going to take off with it, and then the rest of the points will be spread out between the rest of us."

The Western Boone get ready to defend their sectional title on Feb. 3 at Crawfordsville.

"That is definitely a big goal of ours," Eadie said. "We are hopeful, but know things have to fall into place and we have to compete well. We want to start the meet off strong with diving on Saturday morning, and hopefully get a little boost there. And then I think if we are solid in our relays, that is really going to be helpful."

Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.