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Shelbyville boys swim program set for record-breaking season

The Shelbyville High School boys swimming record board will be under assault all season long.

Senior Tyler Harker is after all four individual freestyle records while Spanish exchange student Juan Gonzalez Gallego has his eyes on the butterfly record held by Harker’s older brother, Dylan.

The Golden Bears debut tonight at Whiteland.

Harker is on track to make his first state finals berth after finishing sectional runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle at the 2021 New Palestine Sectional. He finished behind a senior in the 200 freestyle and behind two seniors and a sophomore in the 100 freestyle.

“Tyler has big aspirations and big goals that he wants to achieve this season,” said Shelbyville swim coach Coen Weiler. “He has really stepped into his role as a leader this year.”

Harker’s freestyle speed will make him valuable in all three relay races and he has the endurance to chase freestyle records in the 200 and 500 freestyle.

“He wants to clean house on all the freestyle records,” said Weiler.

Gallego made it clear he wanted his exchange student placement to include a place where he could continue his swim training.

“He is a very gifted butterfly swimmer with a legitimate shot at the conference and sectional titles,” said Weiler.

The top four 100 butterfly swimmers at the New Palestine Sectional were seniors. Shelbyville freshman Will Rife was sixth.

Dylan Harker, who completed his Franklin College swimming career in the spring and is now in graduate school in Ohio will be in attendance Tuesday to see if Gallego can begin his Shelbyville career by breaking Harker’s 100 butterfly record.

Gallego’s arrival also significantly improves the 200 medley relay team, which could feature a pair of state meet qualifying swimmers and Rife, who produced an outstanding freshman season.

Rife posted sub 60-second times in the 100 butterfly before the sectional then produced a 56.72 in the qualifying round to reach the finals.

With junior Tristin Maloney in the butterfly-training mix, Weiler expects exciting races this season for the trio of Gallego, Rife and Maloney.

“Tristin has a passion to be on top and want to impact the team,” said Weiler. “He shows up every day to work.”

Seniors Lance File and Michael Fox return to provide a veteran presence in the pool.

“Lance really hit his stride last year,” said Weiler. “He did a lot of work in the offseason getting significantly stronger and it’s paying off in the pool.”

File was a sectional consolation heat qualifier in the 100 backstroke last season.

Fox is already setting personal-record times in the pool and will add speed to the freestyle relay events.

Junior Trey Carrell returns after a strong finish to his sophomore season. Carrell is a versatile swimmer that can compete in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle.

New to the program this season are freshmen Gaige Harker, Blake Hughes and David Quillen and a second Spanish foreign exchange student in Xavier Minoves.

While Harker is new to the sport, Hughes has previous Shelby County Aquatics Club (SCAC) experience.

“Both have shown tremendous growth the first two weeks,” said Weiler.

Along with Quillen, who swam at the middle school, and Minoves, the foursome will continue to learn all four strokes and gain experience.

“We need to get them comfortable in every event,” said Weiler.

Shelbyville does not have a diver in the program this season.

The Golden Bears will host the Shelby Relays on Dec. 11 and compete in the Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet at New Palestine on Dec. 18.

The program has seven dual meets scheduled for January and closes out the regular season at home on Feb. 1 against Lawrence Central and New Palestine.

The New Palestine Sectional championships are Feb. 19.

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