DARKE COUNTY – A pair of Greenville athletes who recently had strong performances at invitationals are this week’s Daily Advocate athletes of the week.
This week’s Daily Advocate athletes of the week are Greenville wrestler William Nibert and Greenville girls swimmer Isabella Gable.
Nibert has placed in all three invitationals Greenville has competed in this season. He won the 182 pound weight class at the Greenville Invitational, finished second at the 19-team Lima Central Catholic Holiday Tournament and last weekend placed second at the 12-team Troy Invitational.
“He is one of those kids a coach loves to have,” Greenville wrestling coach David Guillozet said. “He is a hard worker, physical, coachable, listens well, good leader and just an all-around good kid.”
For the season Nibert has a 14-5 record with eight pins.
“Part of his success comes from him being dedicated and putting lots of time in the weight room during the offseason,” Guillozet said.
The Greenville senior already is a two-time district qualifier in the Ohio High School Athletic Association meet. This year he hopes to qualify for state and then place at the state meet.
“I believe he can do it if he continues to work hard and really pushes himself the rest of the season,” Guillozet said.
Last weekend Gable set three records at the Sidney Invitational as she won the girls 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:11.86. In doing so, she broke the Sidney Invitational meet record, the Sidney YMCA pool record, and she broke the Greenville program record originally held by Katelynn Pratt Collins.
“Isabella started the high school season late as she was still competing for the Dayton Raiders Swim Club, a year round USA swimming team, so she actually missed the first two meets,” Greenville swim coach Mollie Mendoza said. “She has only competed in three meets with us so far, and last weekend was her first record-breaking performance. Isabella is doing well, but I know that she can still improve her times as the season progresses.
“I knew that Isabella had a goal this year to break as many GHS swim records as possible so I was not surprised that she broke the GHS record in the 500 freestyle event. However, it was surprising that she broke the meet record and Shelby County YMCA record. I did not expect that at all. I was so wrapped up in the meet that I was not paying much attention to the pool and meet records. It is usually difficult to break those records because they tend to be very fast.
Gable’s time in the 500 freestyle is the fastest among all Darke County girls this season. The Greenville freshman also is the fastest in the county with a time of 2:01.62 in the girls 200 freestyle and with a time of 1:03.42 in the girls 100 backstroke. She’s second in Darke County in the girls 100 freestyle with a time of 57.71.
“Isabella began swimming at a young age,” Mendoza said. “She started with the Darke County YMCA swim team and then moved to the Dayton Raiders swim club. She has been swimming year round for several years, and I knew that she was a strong swimmer from the beginning of the season. I believe her dedication and love for swimming make her a strong competitor so early in her high school career.”
