Tigers surface first

The Central and Notre Dame girls swimming teams now have an early barometer for the season ahead. And if the first dual meet for the teams is any indication, the next two meetings ought to be good.

Central, which has never lost to Notre Dame, held off the host Bulldogs for a 97-89 triumph on Tuesday afternoon at Central Municipal Pool.

Hannah Kinder won two individual events -- reaching the only two state cuts achieved at the meet -- and also was part of Central's first-place 200-yard medley relay victory. Katie Bowles and Brianna LeGrand added individual victories for Central.

"It took all of our swimmers to beat them," Central coach Dayna Powell said. "I thought it was going to be close. I wanted to win by more, but I'll take it. It's a win."

Central never trailed and pulled away with a 1-2-3 finish in the meet's fourth event, the 50-meter freestyle. Kinder was first in 25.52 seconds, Bowles was second, and Amanda Dewrock placed third.

After Central led 39-23 following that event, Notre Dame chipped away with wins in five of the final eight events. Lauren Bader won the diving for the Bulldogs, freshman Jordan Seabaugh captured the 100 butterfly, and Ashley Nenninger won the 100 breaststroke. Notre Dame also won the 200 and 500 free relays. Bader was a part of both teams.

Notre Dame had picked up earlier wins from Mollie Messmer in the 200 freestyle and Ashly Ducharme in the 200 individual medley.

"We're going to work hard, and when we see them in conference, we want to beat them," Notre Dame assistant coach Pat Kuper said. "But I know they're going to work hard, too.

"This is our starting point. Now we know what we have to do to make a few state cuts."

Kuper said the Bulldogs are looking at Bader and Ducharme as potential state qualifiers.

Bader scored a 155.80 in diving while a score of 210 is needed on a total degree of difficulty of 12.0.

"Now she has a meet under her belt to calm her down," Kuper said. "She could have scored higher with easier dives but she's working on some dives with higher degrees of difficulty. She trained over the summer, and she's really working hard."

Ducharme was 35 seconds behind Kinder and 29 seconds off the state qualifying time in the 500 free, but Kuper said the junior informed her before the meet she was not feeling well.

Ducharme swam the first leg on the 500 free relay that gave the Bulldogs two out of the three relays.

"We feel good about that," Kuper said.

It was the only setback of the day for Kinder, a sophomore who missed Central's opening 10th-place finish in the 12-team Marquette Relays.

"Hannah Kinder is a powerhouse," Kuper said. "We knew anything she was swimming, she'd win. Our thought was just to stay as close to Hannah as possible."

Powell said the opening meet will open some eyes for members of her team.

"Eight points is not a lot," Powell said. "It was nice to get a close meet after the Marquette Relays, where we were in so many consolation finals, to get to swim against people who are close to us. It brings the importance of training home a little more."

Powell said she will be working this year with one of her smallest groups -- 30 swimmers -- and also lost a lot of state experience to graduation and other sports.

A number of young swimmers chipped in with key performances for Central. Sophomore Taylor McMillian, diving in her first meet, finished second to Bader. Bowles, a freshman, was part of Central's winning 200 medley relay in addition to capturing the 100 freestyle and placing second in the 50 free.

"This group will have to step up and fill the gaps," Powell said. "The thing that impresses me about this group is they're very hard working. They're trying to get better and they're working at it."

The Tigers will be able to test their improvement against Notre Dame on April 2 in the City of Roses Invite. The Show Me Conference meet is scheduled for May 5.

CENTRAL 97, NOTRE DAME 89

200 medley relay -- 1, Central (Hannah Kinder, Jessi Yarbro, Amy Bickings, Katie Bowles), 2:09.09; 2, ND (Ashly Ducharme, Ashley Nenninger, Jordan Seabaugh, Lauren Bader), 2:11.50; 3, Central (Tara Pickens, Kasper Woldvedt, Lindsey Smith, Betsy Schroeder), 2:23.35.

200 freestyle -- 1, Mollie Messmer (ND), 2:18.26; 2, Betsy LeGrand (C), 2:19.51; 3, Joanne Taleno (C), 2:30.40.

200 individual medley -- 1, Ducharme (ND), 2:23.86; 2, Yarbro (C), 2:38.41; 3, Woldvedt (C), 2:48.76.

50 free -- 1, Kinder (C), 25.52; 2, Bowles (C), 30.06; 3, Dewrock (C), 30.98.

Diving -- 1, Bader (ND), 155.80; 2, Taylor McMillian (C), 151.75; 3, Emily Huber (ND), 150.88.

100 buttefly -- 1, Seabaugh (ND), 1:14.96; 2, Bickings (C), 1:20.02; 3, Wodlvedt (C), 1:22.35.

100 free -- 1, Bowles (C), 1:06.35; 2, Abbie Fisher (ND), 1:07.33; 3, Smith (C), 1:09.93.

500 free -- 1, Kinder (C), 5:36.74; 2, Ducharme (ND), 6:11.22; 3, Messmer (ND), 6:21.57.

200 free relay -- 1, ND (Nenninger, Victoria Moy, Bader, Messmer), 1:58.84; 2, Central (Yarbro, Woldvedt, Brittney Halter, Dewrock), 2:04.35; 3, ND (Fisher, Jennifer Hinkebein, Westrich, Eden Ellison), 2:13.93.

100 backstroke -- 1, LeGrand (C), 1:14.29; 2, Jennifer Barrett (ND), 1:15.99; 3, Seabaugh (ND), 1:18.55.

100 breaststroke -- 1, Nenninger (ND), 1:19.68; 2, Yarbro (C), 1:22.54; 3, May (ND), 1:27.34.

500 free relay -- 1, ND (Ducharme, Messmer, Bader, Seabaugh), 4:17.74; 2, Central (Kinder, Bowles, Bickings, Dewrock), 4:19.20; 3, Central (Smith, Schroeder, Taleno, LeGrand), 4:44.43.