Central splashes past ND in dual

As far as rivalries go, they don't get much friendlier than the Central-Notre Dame boys swimming rivalry.

"Since we're both in the same pool everyday, we both try to bring something to the meet," said Daniel Austin, one of Central's captains. "It's fun to have a dual meet with them; the bigger thing is the conference meet."

Central brushed off host Notre Dame 117-63 on Tuesday afternoon at Central Municipal Pool. The rivalry is so friendly the teams shared senior night with Central doing the honors at one break and Notre Dame spotlighting its seniors a bit later in the event.

The outcome was never in doubt from the time Central placed first and third in the opening 200-yard medley relay and went on to qualify two more individuals for state, but the Bulldogs had some of their best times of the year as well.

"The boys knew coming in that we were going to get beat," said Notre Dame coach Pat Kuper, whose team lacks the quality depth to compete with Central. "We have no divers, and we had two kids not feeling well, but we're happy with the effort. A couple boys had their best times of the year. We're working for state cuts for two relays, so we set up some kids to rest before the relays and they weren't swimming their strongest events.

"I'm proud of the Central boys, too. They did a good job."

Central had seven different individual winners led by Jason Mercer, who earned his second individual state cut by winning the 100 butterfly in 57.22 seconds. Central's other winners were Kris Metje in the 200 individual medley, Hunter Givens in the 50 freestyle, Aaron Zlokovich in diving, Stuart Greaser in the 100 freestyle, Austin in the 200 backstroke and Peyton Waggener in the 100 breaststroke.

"We were talking about our goals for the year, and we've gotten almost all of them," Central coach Dayna Powell said. "We've surprised ourselves with how well we've done. We have a few more state cuts we hope to make."

Metje earned his second individual state cut by finishing second in the 200 freestyle in 1:53.15, about 3 seconds behind Notre Dame's Jameson Kuper.

"They're friends, and it's always great competition," Pat Kuper said.

Jameson Kuper also won the 500 freestyle and anchored Notre Dame's winning 400 freestyle relay team.

Central 117, Notre Dame 63

200 medley relay -- 1, Central (Hunter Givens, Peyton Waggener, Jason Mercer, Daniel Austin), 1:48.95; 2, Notre Dame (Josh Buchheit, Adam Reinagel, Jameson Kuper, Jordan Voss), 1:51.54. 3, Central (Stuart Greaser, John Wolpers, Michael Berry, Quentin Kelley), 2:00.37.

200 freestyle -- 1, Kuper (ND), 1:50.34; 2, Kris Metje (C), 1:53.15; 3, Jake Meyer (C), 2:06.22.

200 individual medley -- 1, Metje (C), 2:21.41; 2, Buchheit (ND), 2:22.88; 3, Austin (C), 2:27.62.

50 freestyle -- 1, Givens (C), 24.12; 2, Wolpers (C), 25.64; 3, Edward Doyle (ND), 27.56.

1-meter diving -- 1, Aaron Zlokovich (C); 2, Rob Thomas (C).

100 butterfly -- 1, Mercer (C), 57.22; 2, Givens (C), 58.93; 3, Wolpers (C), 1:05.56.

100 freestyle -- 1, Greaser (C), 56.84; 2, Buchheit (ND), 58.07; 3, Kelley (C), 59.22.

500 freestyle -- 1, Kuper (ND), 5:01.87; 2, Waggener (C), 5:28.65; 3, Will LaFoe (C), 6:06.83.

200 freestyle relay -- 1, Central (Mercer, Metje, Meyer, Givens), 1:39.34; 2, Central (Waggener, Matt Holmes, Greaser, Kelley), 1:44.55; 3, ND (Lance Carroll, Joe Graves, Jordan Voss, Reinagel), 1:45.12.

200 backstroke -- 1, Austin (C), 1:02.30; 2, Holmes (C), 1:16.43; 3, Nathan Todt (ND), 1:17.67.

100 breaststroke -- 1, Waggener (C), 1:09.88; 2, Berry (C), 1:15.33; 3, Graves (ND), 1:17.96.

400 freestyle -- 1, ND (Buchheit, Reinagel, Jordan Voss, Kuper), 3:46.49; 2, Central (Metje, Greaser, Wolpers, Austin), 3:50.77; 3, ND (Justin Voss, Doyle, Todt, Graves), 4:09.26.