Swim teams looking for MVL titles this winter

Entering his tenth season at the helm of the Tippecanoe swim team, Karl Stanbery is more than ready to continue the success that he has seen from his swimmers when the Red Devils hit the pool this winter.

While Tipp doesn’t have a lot of big numbers this season on the team, he feels that another big season is expected from the talent he has coming back this year.

“We are a bit smaller this year but I think we will be really exciting,” Stanbery said. “We have some good experience coming back from state last year but we graduated 11 kids including ten girls with the majority of them were on state relays.”

Leading Tipp this year on the girls side will be seniors Gracie Ganger who qualified last season in the 100 Breast and placed top 16 in Ohio.

Also back will be Abigayle Poffenberger and Maeve McMaken, with Poffenberger on a state relay last season and McMaken made it deep into the districts.

“She just missed a close cutoff to the state tournament in the 200 Free,” Stanbery said about McMaken. “Our girls will return a lot of good strong leadership at the senior level.”

“Junior Alaina Jacquemin was a good strong leader for us last year as a sophomore,” he added. “She really challenged herself throughout the season and actually got on a state relay as well. I am really looking forward to bringing back some good upperclassmen this season.”

The Tipp coach also noted their sophomore class is very solid with the likes of Avery Anderson who will push to be on a relay this year.

“We are going to have to have a good day to win the league again,” he said, “Troy will be a challenge as well as Butler, but I think Troy is really going to push the league this year. They have ten seniors like we did last year and they will be very talented with a lot of good sophomores and juniors to fill things in. I just want us to grow and get better every day and try to improve as we get through the season. We just have to have our best swims in January and get even better for sectionals and districts in February.”

For the boys, junior Jack McMurry has been a great leader for the Red Devils and Stanbery is looking for big things from him this season.

“He has really challenged himself every day and is really a great leader,” the Tipp coach said. “He has pushed this offseason and I am seeing a lof of good times from his club meet.”

“Michael Stanford and Eli Ganger also swim together at their club and have really improved this offseason. We are excited about the boys side and we really have a lot of new kids swimming this year specifically from the cross country team so we have a lot of guys willing to learn and get better through the season.”

“Butler is the standard in the league for the boys but I think we will have a good opportunity this year,” Stanbery said. “Last year was the closest we have gotten to Butler within 100 points for the MVL and they do have a lot of talent over there along with numbers. But this year I think we will challenge them.”

Senior Emma Stallard returns after taking a year off and, according to Pentaudi, she has a good fundamental shot that she needs to utilize this year. Another senior is Sam Wall but she will miss the season with an ACL injury. The Tipp coach has talked to her about what her role can look like this season with the team.

Junior Macey Griffin returns at a guard spot and will be counted on to be a contributor, along with Emily Aselage, who will be asked to step out and play some guard this season along with her usual inside game. Lydia Zweizig is another junior who looks to be a factor with her court presence this season.

Sophomores to watch include Savannah Clawson, who had a big sophomore volleyball season and Pentaudi feels she has really developed over the summer, while Courtney Post will handle things in the paint with her inside presence.

Other underclassmen to watch are sophomores Reese Hoover, Morgan Sessions, Ella Combs, and Eve McCormick. Freshman Mady Turner and Liv Hiser are two 2027 players who also look to get time and contribute.