Wheeler boys swimming and diving team finishes successful season
VALPARAISO, Ind. — The Wheeler High School (WHS) Boys Swimming and Diving team finished the 2023 season strong, winning their Conference swim meet as well as breaking multiple school and Conference records.
On Saturday, January 7th WHS hosted the Greater South Shore Conference swim meet. With a total of 401 points, they out-scored Conference rivals North Newton, Griffith, Bishop Knoll and Calumet New Tech to claim their 9th consecutive Conference Championship victory. Several records were broken in the process.
Senior diver Seth Kochvar scored 524.20 points, obliterating Conference, school, and pool records by over 100 points. Sophomore Tommy Emery won the 200-yard Freestyle in 1:53.23, shaving over 3 seconds off the prior Conference record. Finally, the “A” Relay team of Tyler Schmidt, Drew Stoner, Vinny Ordonez and Tommy Emery smashed the Conference and school records they set last season in both the 200-yard (in 1:30.69) and 400-yard (in 3:23.85) Freestyle Relays.
WHS Boys continued to break records at the February 18th IHSAA Sectionals. Emery broke the 100-yard Butterfly school record (in 54.71). Schmidt, Stoner, Ordonez and Emery re-broke the 200-yard (in 1:29.39) and 400-yard (in 3:21.46) Freestyle Relay school records they had just set a month earlier in the Conference meet.
This stellar squad unfortunately missed being the first WHS swim relay team to advance to the State Final by only 0.40 seconds! In the individual events, Kochvar and Emery each finished among the top finalists in their events, and Schmidt was the runner-up in the 50-yard Freestyle. With a time of 22.07, he similarly missed clinching the win and advancing to the State Final by a mere 0.06 seconds!
While these close misses were heartbreaking, the boys made a great run and despite being the smallest school in their Section of twelve, placed 4th overall. All in all, 2023 was a very successful season for the WHS Boys. They hope their success leads to more student-athletes giving swimming a try and going out for the team next season.
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.
