Shelbyville’s boys swimming team has three top seeds and a relay team seeded No. 1 entering tonight’s preliminary round of the New Palestine Sectional.
Senior Tyler Harker is the top seed in the 200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle, junior Juan Gonzalez-Gallego is No. 1 in the 100 butterfly and the two are joined by junior Trey Carrell and sophomore Will Rife as the top seed in the 400 freestyle relay.
“I have high expectations for these boys,” said Shelbyville head coach Coen Weiler. “All year long they have stepped up. The girls had a phenomenal taper and a phenomenal sectional and it’s really given us hope and increased our expectations for what we expect from the boys.”
The top eight finishers in each event tonight return Saturday for championship races. The next eight finishers also advance to consolation races Saturday.
Sectional champions automatically qualify for the IHSAA state meet on Feb. 25-26 at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
The last Golden Bear to reach the state meet was Nolan Davis in 2018 in the 200 freestyle. Davis recently won the 200 freestyle for Franklin College at the Heartland College Athletic Conference Championships.
Shelbyville will open the championship race qualifying round tonight with a fast relay team in the 200 medley relay. The same quartet competing in the 400 freestyle relay will kick off the sectional.
Rife, Carrell, Harker and Gonzalez-Gallego are seeded third (1:47.07) behind Richmond (1:44.49) and Mount Vernon (1:45.26).
“I do believe those top three teams will have a very tight race,” said Weiler. “I think it will be a great race to get us going. I think that will be a heck of a way to start Saturday.”
Harker (photo) will then take center stage with a huge advantage in the 200 freestyle. His seed time of 1:48.9, which he set winning the Hoosier Heritage Conference title in December, is 5.11 seconds faster than the No. 2 seed, Richmond’s Landon Smith.
“Tyler is looking to step into an event that he has been after for a couple of years,” said Weiler. “I am really looking forward to seeing what he can drop.”
Davis holds the school record at 1:45.29.
Michael Fox is seeded 16th and has finished the season with several strong practices.
“I am hoping to see if he can get to that 10 or 11 spot and gain some points for us,” said Weiler of Fox, who recently announced his commitment to run cross country and track and field at Manchester University.
Gonzalez-Gallego, an exchange student from Malaga, Spain, gets his first individual swim following Harker in the 200 individual medley. He is the second seed at 2:05.51 behind Mt. Vernon’s Matthew Garey (2:02.14), who won the HHC title this year.
“It is going to be fun watching those two,” said Weiler.
Tristin Maloney, a junior, is seeded 11th.
“He has a big goal of top eight but that would take an 11-second drop,” said Weiler. “It would be huge if he could get that. I’m looking forward to him getting a good swim Thursday and returning Saturday and winning the consolation race.”
Carrell is Shelbyville’s top sprinter in the 50 freestyle. He is seeded third at 23.19 seconds behind Mt. Vernon’s Brady Gray (21.49) and Hagerstown’s Bryce Lamar (22.84).
Also in the event are sophomore Andrew Duffy, seeded 26th and freshman Blake Hughes, seeded 28th.
“Both of them have had really good seasons with good growth in the 50 freestyle specifically,” said Weiler. “I am looking for good, confident swims from them to set the tone for their careers going forward.”
Gonzalez-Gallego (photo) arrived at Shelbyville as a butterfly specialist. He broke the school record earlier this season and now has a clear shot at winning a sectional title to match his HHC title.
Gonzalez-Gallego is the top seed in the 100 butterfly at 53.79. Mt. Vernon’s Jack Champion is the No. 2 seed at 57.72.
Weiler believes Rife, seeded 7th (58.84), can push his way up and challenge the leaders for a potential 1-2 finish. Rife finished fourth in the HHC championship race.
“This should be our highest scoring event of the day individually,” said Weiler. “I think that will be the event where Juan gets going. Will is coming off a really strong freshman sectional. It is not out of the question for him and Juan to go 1-2, which would be awesome.”
Maloney is seeded 15th in the event.
Carrell also is Shelbyville’s top seed in the 100 freestyle. He is fifth at 51.48.
“There are 1.4 seconds between him and second place,” said Weiler. “I think Trey will go out there and crush it. I think that will be a big spot where we move up placing and getting significant points.”
Senior Lance File is 17th but less than a second from being seeded 13th.
Freshman Gaige Harker is 30th.
Tyler Harker is the top seed in the 500 freestyle at 5:01.41 and will be challenged by Garey (5:03.92) of Mt. Vernon for the sectional title.
Fox is seeded 14th.
The quartet of File, Duffy, Fox and Maloney are seeded seventh (1:47.40) in the 200 freestyle relay.
“The big goal there is to get sub 1:40 but that will take some big swims,” said Weiler.
Rife is sixth (1:02.73) in the 100 backstroke – a relatively new event for the sophomore.
“I expect him to be sub 1:00 if not faster come Saturday,” said Weiler. “He needs to get a confident swim Thursday and let loose Saturday.”
File is 15th and needs a good performance to secure the consolation race.
Duffy and Hughes are seeded 17th and 23rd, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke.
“Andy (Duffy) is looking to step up and get that swim Saturday,” said Weiler.
Harker and the 400 freestyle relay team will chase two records in the sectional’s final event. Harker will swim the lead leg with the goal of breaking Davis’ 100 freestyle record of 48.78.
“A big goal this year is to get that record,” said Weiler. “He wants to get that Thursday.”
Harker, Rife, Gonzalez-Gallego and Carrell will chase the program record of 3:22 and a sectional title this weekend.
The quartet is the top seed at 3:33.68 with Richmond (3:44.72) close behind.
There will be 11 teams at the New Palestine Sectional – Centerville, Connersville, Eastern Hancock, Greenfield-Central, Hagerstown, Mt. Vernon, New Castle, New Palestine, Richmond, Seton Catholic and Shelbyville.
