Published: February 21, 2008 11:46 pm            

Gauger brothers, Loshnowsky set for state

Kokomo’s first family of aquatics returns to the IU Natatorium this weekend for the IHSAA’s 71st annual Boys Swimming and Diving Championship intent on making a big splash.

Tylor and Mitchell Gauger were state finalists in 2007 but came away wanting better results. Their chances start with the preliminary swims beginning at 6 p.m. today.

Diving prelims are slated for 9 a.m. Saturday, with all swimming and diving finals set for 1 p.m. that day.

“Last year I was a little disappointed with my performances, but now that I have the experience I hope I can do better,” said Tylor Gauger. As a sophomore he placed 15th in the state last season in the 200-yard individual medley and 16th in the 500 freestyle.

Mitchell Gauger qualified for the 1-meter diving competition but failed to advance beyond the morning preliminary dives. This season both Gaugers appear poised to improve on that experience of a year ago.

Tylor Gauger twice broke the Katfish school record while setting the pace in the individual medley at the Noblesville Sectional last week. His time of 1:55.38 has him seeded No. 7 in the IM.

Tylor’s 500 free time of 4:43.43 is the ninth seed in that event. With a full taper this week he has his sights set on school records in both races.

“I know if I swim my goals I should be in the top eight, so I’ll shoot for that,” Gauger said.

“Tylor is so focused that he just has a plan for how he wants to get his time down and he stays with that focus,” says coach Bob Croll, who was lured out of retirement on an interim basis a couple weeks ago to finish the season for the Kokomo swim team.

“He’s a different breed when it comes to swimming and a lot of fun to work with,” Croll said. “So many high school kids aren’t as focused, but for some reason he is just so in-tuned with everything that’s going on around him — especially in the water. It’s really uncanny.”

Tylor admitted he has room for improvement in his IM, especially with the backstroke. Croll noticed what he called “flaws” in several of the boys’ strokes when he returned.

“[Coach Croll] wrote down a few workouts and I tweaked it a little to what I thought I needed,” Tylor Gauger said. “I’ve been working on my backstroke, so that should help me with the IM.”

Mitchell Gauger placed eighth in the Fishers Regional last year, resulting in an early exit at state. He was third Tuesday at Fishers with 391.55 points, right where he wanted to be after finishing second at sectional.

At Noblesville, Mitchell said the trick to advancing beyond the prelims is how to balance the order of his dives.

“You want to get more difficult as you go along in your [list of dives], but at regional and state you want to make the cut, so you kind of plan some of your better dives [earlier in the order],” Mitchell Gauger said. “All in all, you want your list to be consistent.”

All in the family

Tylor and Mitchell Gauger are actually triplets along with their sister, Brittany, who is a regional-qualifying diver herself for Kokomo.

While Tylor stayed on course to become an outstanding swimmer, Mitchell and Brittany took detours somewhere along the way.

“I’ve been swimming since I was 9 and they decided to start diving in middle school,” Tylor said. “I’ve been doing it longer than they have.

“Mitchell did [swim] some relays this year and I know last year Brittany did a few but that’s about it.”

Croll said the boys’ “laid-back” personalities are well-suited for the rigors of state competition but not to be confused with a lack of drive.

“I talk with their dad and they’re just like a typical family,” Croll said. “It just so happens these kids are really focused and able to maintain for a long time and that’s one of the things it takes to be good.”

Loshnowsky makes waves

The Gaugers will be joined by Maconaquah swimmer Andrew Loshnowsky, who is slated to compete in two events today, the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

Loshnowsky, a junior, raised eyebrows when he boldly predicted his victory in the 50 free at Noblesville.

“He has all the confidence in the world,” Braves coach Brad McManus said of Loshnowsky, who has an excellent opportunity to become the first individual to place at the state finals for Maconaquah since Ian Lehman in 2000.

“He told me a month or two ago he was going to win the 50 at sectional and I kind of looked at him like, ‘Really?’ because I knew Carmel was going to be there and I knew the competition was going to be stiff. And he did it.”

Loshnowsky broke the school record while winning the 50 in 21.62 seconds. That time places him as the No. 9 seed tonight. His time of :54.35 in the backstroke is under the state-cut time of :54.59 but is still just the 22nd seed.

“I really think if he swims well in the 50 he could be in the top five,” said McManus. “The backstroke — I’d like to see him make the top 16.

“[Loshnowsky] has dedicated himself to swimming and he’s worked hard to get there. He’s sacrificed a lot of time and other sports he could have been doing to concentrate on swimming.”

        

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