GYMNASTICS & BOYS SWIM & BOYS BASKETBALL

SPORTS Boys swim places second at sectionals behind Munster

BY SAMUEL BREWER co-sports editor

The boys swim team finished in the 44th position at the state meet at IUPUI on Feb. 26, scoring two points overall.

Senior Pablo Nieto recounted what it was like to come out of the water for the last time in his high school swimming career.

“It was crazy to think that that was the last time I’ll ever do that. I haven’t been in any pool since,” Nieto said.

According to Nieto, what felt like the real last time competing was at the team’s sectionals at Munster, where the team came up only four points short of winning the sectional title.

“Sectionals was a big battle against not only Munster and Lake Central but ourselves mentally. At the end of the day we lost a hard battle and lived to tell the tale of how close we managed to get,” Nieto said.

Coach Blake Yeager was still satisfied with the team’s performance.

“I thought we had a chance of winning the meet going in. At the end we got touched out on a couple races the boys would want back and that cost us winning. The boys swam really well and almost all did lifetime best times. At the end of the day that’s all we can ask for,” Yeager said.

Even though Yeager was happy with the boy’s efforts, Nieto was still disappointed that the team had come up short.

“It was devastating. We had a lot of pressure from the girls who won their (sectionals) and in the end of the day we came short. But that’s all it is. Nothing we can do now,” Nieto said.

Also competing for the team was junior Matthew Dumbsky, who believes he learned a lot from the experience.

“Despite not achieving our goal of winning sectionals, I don’t think we would have done as well as we did this season had the chance to win not been there. Munster really gave us a run for our money and I think towards the end we could’ve gotten a little too confident. But that’s just something to take and learn from,” Dumbsky said.

As for the senior class, Yeager says that they will be missed next year and believes that there will be some big shoes for the underclassmen to fill next year.

“We lose a lot of talent from our senior class. Our sectional roster consisted of eight out of 12 swimmers so we will be losing a ton of points. It will be tough to replace all of that,” Yeager said.

Dumbsky agrees that losing the senior class take a lot away from the team, as he believes that the seniors were solid competitors for the team and great people as well.

“With the senior class leaving this year, this team loses more than I can put into words. The senior class brought a lot of heart to this team, and it’s something that will be hard to even come close to in the future. The senior class are some of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, and while they will be missed next year, I am excited to see what their future holds for them,” Dumbsky said.

Gymnast Ysabel Maunes finishes in 16th place at state meet

BY KEELEY BERNARD co-sports editor

The gymnastics team scored the seventh highest sectional score in the entire state, but they were unable to qualify as a team for the regionals meet. Despite this, coach Amy Pysh believes that the team had a great season overall.

“We had an awesome season. Unfortunately only the top three teams go out, so we got eliminated, even with that high team score. We stayed injury free this season and the Varsity team got fourth in the conference. The JV team went undefeated,” Pysh said.

Pysh also named other achievements that the team got during this season.

“Some other highlights of the season were staying ranked in the top five, and as high as number three, all season. We won the LaPorte Pairs Invite, and our high team score was 110.4,” Psyh said. “We kept the gymnasts safely socially distanced, so COVID-19 did not play a negative role in our season, which we fortunately got to finish.”

Although COVID-19 did not negatively affect the season, it did impact the way meets were run, according to sophomore Ysabel Maunes.

“This season, COVID-19 changed how meets are run a lot. They limited fans, and at some bigger meets didn’t allow fans at all. I, actually, enjoyed this aspect because competing in front of big audiences tends to make me more nervous. So I’d say I felt a lot calmer at meets this year because there were not as many people watching,” Maunes said.

The state meet is one of the meets that limited the amount of fans that were allowed in attendance. Maunes qualified as an individual for the state meet on beam this season, she placed 16th.

“I did pretty good at state. I got a 9.075 and placed 16th out of 49. I am so happy with my performance. It was a very solid routine with no wobbles and a stuck dismount,” Maunes said.

This being her first state meet, Maunes admits that she was nervous going into the meet.

“I was extremely nervous before I competed,” Maunes said. “The state competition is much bigger and brighter than any other meet of the season, so I felt extra scared. Also, I was the final gymnast to compete in the first rotation out of all the events, everyone else had finished, so I felt like everyone’s eyes were on me. This made me even more nervous, but hearing other teams cheer me on and support me definitely helped calm my nerves a bit.”

Maunes is already looking forward to hopefully returning to the state meet next year and hopes that she can bring her team with her.

“I really want to make it to state as a team,” Maunes said. “My goals for next year are to get more difficult skills on all the events. Doing this can help raise my scores and ultimately help the team as a whole.”

Although Maunes is already looking forward to the potential success of next season, Pysh reflects on the team’s success this past season.

“I am always grateful for a year of success and watching the gymnasts grow as athletes for the better, from start to finish,” Pysh said. “No matter what way the season ends, after 20 years of coaching, I can always say that it is a pleasure to coach some very tough athletes, and watch them shine.”

Junior Darren Roach dribbles down the court during the team’s last home game against Lowell on Feb. 26.

PHOTO BY EMILY HELMUTH

Boys basketball ends season with 11-5 overall record

BY NOAH THOMAS co-editor-in-chief

Finishing in fourth in the DAC, the boys basketball team completed their season with a 47-31 loss to Valpo in the first sectional game.

Veteran head coach Clint Swan says that he will miss his four seniors and that losing the last game is always difficult.

“Well, losing the last game in the tournament is always difficult. It was especially so this year having four great seniors. Jake (Oostman), Felix (Meeks), Ty (Smith) and David (Brown) are all going to be sorely missed,” Swan said.

Despite COVID-19 issues at the beginning of the season, the team pushed through and completed their season. The team finished their season with a 11-5 overall record. Swan says it was great to see the team move past COVID-19 complications and succeed.

“As a coach you hope to see your players move through adversity, and it was gratifying to see us move beyond this without having it derail our season,” Swan said. “We were fortunate in that we were able to still practice each day despite the pandemic and that we had a serious group who focused on getting better each day. In fact, that was sort of our mantra, getting better every day.”

According to senior Jake Oostman, strong relationships with his teammates played a part in the team’s success.

“It makes me feel good that we made the most out of a crazy situation. Everyone did good with staying separated and keeping out of populated situations,” Oostman said. “We have known each other for so long that it wasn’t challenging to keep gaining chemistry. We had a great group of people that clicked so well and it made it really fun.”

Both Swan and Oostman agree that chemistry did not seem to be affected by the pandemic.

“I felt like we handled everything about as well as it could have been handled. Our team actually got shut down over winter break, and that could have become a major setback for us. Instead, we worked hard and were able to pick up where we left off,” Swan said.

With the season finished, Oostman’s high school basketball career finished as well.

“Being that it is the last year it is definitely really upsetting. Investing so much into a great program and having it end is super sad,” Oostman said.

Even after the loss of the four seniors, Swan looks back at his group this year and remembers how much fun the team had together.

“This will be a memorable group, though, for how they responded to the many tests they faced throughout the year. It was a fun year,” Swan said.

The team was lead in scoring during the season by senior Ty Smith, who averaged 15.1 points per game. Smith was followed by junior Drew Adzia with an average of 11.8 points per game.