Chesteron senior luke wheele heading to state in two individual races and two relays and taking Four Trojans swimmers with him

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Play word association game with Chesterton senior swimmer Luke Wheele and try to guess his response.
Tapering.
Possible answers: nirvana, bliss, finally, sweet, yes! Those all fit. But in talking about the late-season training method of scaling back, which turns him into a monster in the swimming pool and a sweet spot blend of energetic tranquility outside the pool, he came up with a different word: “magical.”
Wheele, it seems, consistently benefits even more than most swimmers from the reduction in yards and general workload. He proved it again Saturday with a killer day at the swim and dive sectionals at Valparaiso’s natatorium.
Wheele swam so well that he qualified for this weekend’s state meet at IU Indianapolis for the maximum four events, two individual freestyle races and two freestyle relays.
Chesterton placed second at the meet with 378 points behind sectional champion Valparaiso (499) and one spot ahead of LaPorte (362).
“I just get better,” Wheele said of the effects of tapering. “I swim better. I feel less tired. For my 200, I’m able to hold on and go, and then the hundred, I actually feel like I can go, like, fast. It’s weird. It’s magical.”
Chesterton wasn’t a contender for the DAC title this year, so there was no need to taper, even a little. The reduced workouts leading into the sectional enabled Wheele to trim 3.97 seconds in the 200 and 1.25 seconds in the 100 from the DAC meet at Lake Central on Feb. 1. Chesterton’s 200 free relay knocked off 5.43 seconds, the 400 free relay 9.67 seconds.
Wheele has been at it too long and is too familiar with the benefits of tapering to be surprised by anything that happened at Saturday’s meet.
“I feel a little more rested, a little happier,” Wheele said. “I saw it coming. It works. It always does. I like seeing an actual good time up there, instead of slow. Go to state, try to do a little better.”
Wheele led off the 400 free relay with a 47.12 split, followed by last-minute replacement, freshman Greydon Pieroni (49.69), then senior Calan Berrier (48.28). Sophomore Aaron Guzzo anchored with a 49.30.
The 400 free took third in an extremely fast race, placing third, behind Valparaiso (3:09.85) and LaPorte (3:11.72).
The 200 free relay took second with a 1:28.79, behind Valpo (1:26.77). Wheele led off (21.86), followed by Guzzo (22.31), junior Tyler Scalf (23.04) and Berrier (21.58).
“I’m pretty happy with how the team performed,” Wheele said. “I kind of expected it. They all worked hard.”
Jenni Kellstrom, in her second year as head coach of Chesterton’s boys and girls teams, had a similar read on the day. The coach noted that several swimmers “dropped an insane amount of time this year.”
“When you have a group of kids who believe in the program and they’re invested in their teammates and they’re improving the team culture and in it for more than themselves, that’s when you see this,” Kellstrom said.
Chesterton didn’t win any events at the meet, but Wheele made it to state via the state standard in the 200-yard freestyle by swimming a 1:42.64, good for second place behind Valpo senior George Patterson.
The 32 spots in the state field in each event first are filled by sectional champions and swimmers meeting the state cut times at sectional meets. The rest of the spots, known as call-downs, are filled by the best non-winning times at sectionals. Wheele made it via call-downs in the 100 free (47.30), the 200 free relay (1:28.79) and 400 free relay (3:14.39).
At the DAC swim and dive championship at Lake Central on Feb. 1, Wheele didn’t finish better than fourth in any of those events.
The difference three weeks made in his times is listed here, with the first numbers representing his DAC time and place, the second his sectional results:
200 free: 1:46.61, fourth; 1:42.64, second.
100 free: 48.55, fourth; 47.30, third.
200 free relay 1:33.22, fourth, split: 22.71; 1:28.79, second, split: 21.86.
400 free relay 3:24.06, fifth, split: 48.79; 3:14.39, third, split: 47.12.
It only takes hearing one word to make Wheele’s smile spread from his left ear to his right: taper.
The rested monster played a big part in bringing Berrier, Guzzo, Pieroni and Scalf to Indy with him.
Trojans diver Luke Hawkins, second at the sectional with 352.25 points, behind Valpo’s Evan Snyder (377.95), will join the travel party if he finishes in the top eight at the Valparaiso diving regional, which starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday.