Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

CRAWFORDSVILLE – With as deep and talented as the Western Boone girls swimming and diving team was last season, winning the Sagamore Conference title was almost a given. This year, while there was still plenty of talent on the Stars, they knew they were going to be pushed and that there was a target on their back if they were going to repeat as conference champs. And when the pressure came, the Lady Stars had more than enough to defend their title. Western Boone won their second-straight conference title on Saturday, scoring 420 points and being the class of the field. “This is great for the girls,” Western Boone head coach Hayley Eadie said. “Honestly, this year wasn’t a given like it was last year (when the Stars won by more than 150 points), and we had to really work for it. That honestly makes it even more sweeter.” Adding to a bit of the uncertainty this week was that the Stars were coming off a lengthy layoff before the meet. Before Thursday’s prelims, the Stars hadn’t swam in a competitive meet since Dec. 12 and had just been training. But the Stars answered the questions of rust with a strong showing on Thursday to set themselves up for Saturday, and then finished the job on Saturday. “I am really proud of the girls,” Eadie said. “We put a lot of pressure on them for Thursday, telling them that Thursday would probably win or lose the meet. There were a lot of underclassmen that we relied on for depth to get points, and they really stepped up. I am super proud of them.” Saturday also started off on a high note for Western Boone, with senior Leelah Fettig winning diving. Her score of 468.65 set the Western Boone 11-dive record. “Leelah absolutely crushed it,” Eadie said. “I am just proud of her and how hard she has worked. She has a lot of big goals, and she is accomplishing them all so far, so she is doing great.” Junior Arianna Stieber was named swimmer of the meet on the girls side, winning all four events she was in. In the 200-IM, she won in a time of 2:13.51, then won the 100-backstroke in 1:00.58. Leading off the 200-free relay, she went 24.86, breaking the school record in the 50-free. Rashel Anderson, Samantha Jones and Adelaide Jones joined her in going 1:42.21, which broke the school record. Stieber, Katherine Aliff, Anderson and Adelaide Jones also won the 400-free relay in a time of 3:46.63, which broke the conference record in the process. “We told those relays that those were going to be some of the tightest races,” Eadie said. “They really came through. They had a plan going in and we were really pumped to come out on top there.” Adelaide Jones won the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 25.52, out-touching North Montgomery’s Annabel Anderson by .02 seconds. The Stars also got a conference title from Anderson in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 56.78, out-touching Crawfordsville’s Maesa Horton by .05 seconds. “It was a great to see her step up and get that championship,” Eadie said. “She has been an important part of the team and it’s great to see her shine in the spotlight too. Those were big time gains for Rashel and she is a senior who has been working hard all these years. It was awesome to see.” Adelaide Jones was runner-up in the breaststroke in a time of 1:13.39. Lebanon was fourth in the girls meet with 282 points. The Tigers got a third-place finish from Cora Dial in the backstroke in a time of 1:03.64, and were third in two relays. The medley relay team of Jessie Stevens, Anna Hale, Dial and Karlee Avila was third in 2:00.07 and the 200-free relay team of Paige Howard, Dial, Avila and Hale was third in 1:48.36. “The girls swam really well,” Lebanon head coach Craig Howe said. “We aren’t in the same place the girls team as we are with our boys team. Scoring it out, I felt like we were probably in that fourth place spot.” Each team has two weeks of dual meets before the girls sectional gets underway. Eadie said the Stars want to carry the momentum from Saturday into the final weeks of the season. “We have a lot of good ideas coming out of today heading into the sectional,” Eadie said. “The girls should be confident with where they are at, but there is still a lot of work to do. We know where we have to focus and work on to improve on some of our weaker spots.” Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.