By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Even after 34 consecutive years of winning state championships, it isn’t difficult for the Carmel girls swim team to keep its program fresh.
That’s because it always seems like every year, new swimmers step up and make their presences known. They certainly did Saturday at the IU Natatorium, where the Greyhounds continued their state title streak in their usual dominant fashion.
Carmel scored 426.5 points to win its 34th straight state title, extending its national record for most state championships in a row. That point total is the fourth largest in state meet history, something that likely exceeded the expectations of Carmel itself.
“I don’t think a year ago looking at this team, you would’ve predicted as many scoring swims in our score as we did today,” said Greyhounds coach Chris Plumb. “Kudos to them and how far they’ve come over the past year. Certainly was not what we would’ve predicted a year ago.”
Two underclassmen led the way for Carmel, both of whom picked up an individual state title and also swam on two of the Greyhounds’ three state-winning relays.
Sophomore Gretchen Lueking finished first in the 200 freestyle in the early part of the meet, then swimming on the 200 and 400 free relays in the latter stages. Freshman Berit Berglund opened the meet up by participating on the winning medley relay, then scored a victory in the backstroke before swimming on the 400 free relay.
“Those girls have worked hard,” said Plumb. “I think our senior leadership helped create an atmosphere where great athletes can emerge and I feel really good about the group of people leaving as well as the ones we have coming in.”
“It’s so amazing,” said Lueking. “All the girls and all of our teammates are just so close. It’s like a big family, so it’s just amazing to swim for everyone in the stands and everyone on deck. It’s just such an amazing opportunity to be a part of.”
Carmel’s other relay participants were Maggie Love, Meredith Berglund and Colleen Duffy in the medley relay; Duffy, Avery Williams and Madelyn Christman in the 200 free relay, and Madelyn Christman and Meghan Christman on the 400 free relay.
Overall, the Greyhounds had 22 medal winners at the state meet. Meghan Christman was second in the 50 free, with Lueking the runner-up in the 100 free. MacKenna Lieske placed second in the individual medley and third in the breaststroke. The ‘Hounds had four fourth-place finishers: Berit Berglund in the 200 free, Madelyn Christman in the IM, Meghan Christman in the 100 free and Erin Cummins in the 500 free.
Meredith Berglund tied for fifth in the butterfly, with Madelyn Christman getting fifth in the 100 free and Love placing fifth in the breaststroke. Duffy finished fifth in the backstroke and sixth in the 50 free, while Love was also sixth in the IM. Seventh-place finishes went to Hayley Reed in the butterfly and Taylor Conley in the backstroke, with Morgan Croaning taking eighth in the 500 free.
TIGERS TAKE SECOND, CASEY WINS DIVING
Fishers had an outstanding state meet, placing second with 208 points. It’s the second time the Tigers have received the runner-up trophy; the first time was in 2015.
Fishers earned eight state medals, including one with a blue ribbon: Morgan Casey won the diving event, scoring 508.90 points.
“This has been the best meet I’ve ever dove. I PRed by like, 40 points,” said Casey. She became the second Fishers diver to win a state title, the first being Shelby Bartlett in 2012.
“I have never scored a 500-point meet before and it was just crazy and awesome,” said Casey. “It was just amazing. I’m still in shock right now.”
Casey had some nervous moments in the last dive, as she was battling with Plainfield’s Daryn Wright, who scored 502.90 for her 11 dives. Casey’s final dive score of 39.10 was enough to get her over the top.
“I was just hoping and praying for that last dive, because I knew that I needed it, and so I just went up and I did it,” said Casey. “And that was it.”
Over in the pool, freshman Jo Jo Ramey had a great day, winning four medals. She finished as the runner-up in the 500 free, joined Lydia Reade, Alexandra Stein and Kalli Agapios to take fourth in the medley relay, placed fifth in the IM and teamed up with Ellen Fero, Kate Mouser and Hannah Pratt to finish in the fifth in the 400 free relay.
Reade took fourth in the breaststroke, while Fero, Agapios, Stein and Pratt placed fifth in the 200 free relay. Corinne Yorkman earned a seventh-place medal in the 500 free.
“They took care of the things they needed to do last night,” said Fishers coach Joe Keller. “No doubt today, they fought through the entire meet to get the job done. What an awesome job by Morgan Casey, being a state champion, really cool.”
ROYALS FINISH IN SIXTH
Hamilton Southeastern reached a landmark by finishing sixth at this year’s state meet. This is the 20th year that the Royals have placed in the top 10. Southeastern got its first top 10 finish in 1998, so the Royals have achieved that status in 20 of the past 23 years.
“I was really proud of the girls,” said Southeastern coach Andy Pedersen. “They fought hard today and they capped off this really, really good season. Just super proud of them. They swam well.”
Molly Pedersen finished the day with four medals. She placed sixth in the 200 free and seventh in the 100 free, later joined Kennedy Fisher, Bri Saple and Kayleigh Witt to take sixth in the 200 free relay, then finished the meet by teaming with Abigail Harter, Witt and Grace Newton for a sixth-place finish in the 400 free relay.
Harter also took third in the backstroke, an event she won medals in all four years of her high school career. She will swim at Purdue next year. Witt is headed to Ball State.
“I was just so proud of her, she was special today,” said Andy Pedersen. “People don’t realize that one of the things that she does that’s really, really special and elite is she always swims the 400 relay and she swims it great.”
Senior Sarah Ballard finished sixth in the diving, the second time she earned a medal in that event, after placing fourth as a sophomore. She will dive for Iowa next year.
MILLERS’ HUFF WINS THE BREASTSTROKE
Noblesville junior Sammy Huff made some history on Saturday, as she became the first Millers swimmer in 10 years to win a state championship at the meet.
Huff won the breaststroke, emerging on top of a close race where the top five were separated by 0.61 seconds. After trailing by .04 seconds halfway through the race, Huff turned it on in the final 50 yards and won in a time of 1:02.87.
“It’s always exciting, and being able to see the people next to you makes it even more exciting and your competitive spirit comes out in races like that,” said Huff.
This is the third medal Huff has won in the breaststroke, after placing fourth last year and eighth as a freshman. She is the first state champion at the swimming/diving meet since Meghan Potee won the diving in 2010.
Huff had extra incentive for winning state: She wanted to do it for coach Rich Wolfred, who is retiring at the end of the season.
“It’s Rich’s last year, and I really wanted to swim it for Rich and finish his coaching career off strong,” said Huff.
The Millers placed 16th as a team with 34 points. Huff also got points with an 11th-place finish in the IM. Caitlin Marshall took 15th in the butterfly, and both swimmers joined Jordan Cooley and Abby Harvey to place 14th in the medley relay.
Team scores (Top 10 and all county): 1. Carmel 426.5, 2. Fishers 208, 3. Franklin Community 165, 4. Northridge 158, 5. Fort Wayne Carroll 155, 6. Hamilton Southeastern 136, 7. Zionsville 130.5, 8. Homestead 121, 9. South Bend St. Joseph 110.5, 10. Chesterton 77, 16. Noblesville 34.
200 medley relay
“A” Final: 1. Carmel (Berit Berglund, Maggie Love, Meredith Berglund, Colleen Duffy) 1:41.33, 4. Fishers (Jo Jo Ramey, Lydia Reade, Alexandra Stein, Kalli Agapios) 1:44.74.
“B” Final: 9. Southeastern (Rebecca Ang, Kennedy Fisher, Abigail Harter, Grace Newton) 1:45.49, 14. Noblesville (Jordan Cooley, Sammy Huff, Caitlin Marshall, Abby Harvey) 1:48.46.
200 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Gretchen Lueking (C) 1:47.50, 4. B. Berglund (C) 1:48.72, 6. Molly Pedersen (HSE) 1:50.88.
“B” Final: 9. Erin Cummins (C) 1:51.19, 11. Hannah Pratt (F) 1:52.34, 12. Kayleigh Witt (HSE) 1:52.46, 14. Kate Mouser (F) 1:53.06, 16. Abby Jahns (F) 1:54.95.
200 individual medley
“A” Final: 1. Devon Kitchel (Z) 1:59.47, 2. MacKenna Lieske (C) 2:00.78, 4. Madelyn Christman (C) 2:02.44, 5. Ramey (F) 2:03.07, 6. Love (C) 2:03.48.
“B” Final: 9. Reade (F) 2:04.22, 11. Huff (N) 2:06.26, 16. Corinne Yorkman (F) 2:07.67.
50 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Elizabeth Broshears (Evansville Memorial) 22.97, 2. Meghan Christman (C) 22.99, 6. Duffy (C) 23.33.
“B” Final: 14. Ellen Fero (F) 23.96.
One-meter diving
Finals: 1. Morgan Casey (F) 508.90, 6. Sarah Ballard (HSE) 463.65, 12. Grace Mossing (F) 430.50.
Semi-finals: 20. Alexa Williams (Hamilton Heights) 290.90.
Preliminaries: 21. Alaina Heyde (C) 185.70, 22. Darci Commons (C) 182.60.
100 butterfly
“A” Final: 1. Kitchel (Z) 54.04, T5. M. Berglund (C) 55.20, 7. Hayley Reed (C) 55.26.
“B” Final: 9. Avery Williams (C) 56.50, 15. Marshall (N) 57.76.
100 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Kristina Paegle (Bloomington South) 49.57, 2. Lueking (C) 49.76, 4. Me. Christman (C) 50.53, 5. Ma. Christman (C) 50.92, 7. Pedersen (HSE) 51.63.
“B” Final: 14. Fero (F) 52.58.
500 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Mary Catherine Pruitt (SBSJ) 4:47.03, 2. Ramey (F) 4:54.73, 4. Cummins (C) 4:57.59, 7. Yorkman (F) 5:01.73, 8. Morgan Croaning (C) 5:03.43.
“B” Final: 10. Jahns (F) 5:02.48, 12. Vivian Wilson (C) 5:04.04.
200 freestyle relay
“A” Final: 1. Carmel (Duffy, Williams, Lueking, Ma. Christman) 1:32.61, 5. Fishers (Fero, Agapios, Stein, Pratt) 1:35.18, 6. Southeastern (Pedersen, Fisher, Bri Saple, Witt) 1:35.29.
100 backstroke
“A” Final: 1. B. Berglund (C) 53.41, 3. Harter (HSE) 54.74, 5. Duffy (C) 55.09, 7. Taylor Conley (C) 55.58.
100 breaststroke
“A” Final: 1. Huff (N) 1:02.87, 3. Lieske (C) 1:03.11, 4. Reade (F) 1:03.13, 5. Love (C) 1:03.48.
“B” Final: 10. Fisher (HSE) 1:04.35, 11. Mouser (F) 1:04.92.
400 freestyle relay
“A” Final: 1. Carmel (Lueking, Ma. Christman, Me. Christman, B. Berglund) 3:21.22, 5. Fishers (Fero, Ramey, Mouser, Pratt) 3:28.85, 6. Southeastern (Pedersen, Witt, Harter, Grace Newton) 3:28.91.
The Carmel girls swim team continued its national record state championship streak on Saturday, winning its 34th straight state title Saturday at the IU Natatorium. The Greyhounds scored 426.5 points. (Richie Hall)
Fishers finished as state runner-up for the second time in program history. The Tigers scored 208 points.
Noblesville’s Sammy Huff won the breaststroke event, becoming the first Millers swimmer to win a state swimming title in 10 years.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Bri Saple, Kayleigh Witt and Kennedy Fisher prepare for a race.