By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – As amazing as the Carmel girls swim team’s state championship streak has been and continues to be, there is one intangible that is not lost on the Greyhounds: it’s supposed to be fun.
“It’s just really fun,” said Carmel junior Lynsey Bowen. She was talking as the Greyhounds were celebrating their 38th consecutive state title, which they won last Saturday at the IU Natatorium. Carmel scored 433 team points to keep the longest national high school state championship streak rolling.
“We’re all super close, hang out all the time,” said Bowen. “We see each other 24 hours a week, we train together 10 times a week. We see each other at school, we eat lunch together, so it’s just so much fun being a part of this team, that everyone’s so positive for each other.”
The Greyhounds won eight events at this year’s state meet, including the first three. The medley relay team of junior Kayla Barr, sophomore Molly Sweeney, junior Alex Shackell and senior Grace Dougherty clocked in at 1 minute, 39.13 seconds. Bowen then claimed her first event of the day in the 200 freestyle, with junior Alexandra Ward third and senior Alyssa Street fourth.
Sweeney got the next blue ribbon, defending her championship in the individual medley. Barr placed fourth and sophomore Lucy Enoch was fifth, giving Carmel seven medals in the first three events – medals go to everyone who places in the top eight.
“I felt like we swam a lot more like we were capable of today than we did yesterday,” said Greyhounds coach Chris Plumb. “I thought we had kind of a rough start to the beginning of the meet and thought we were anxious, maybe overexcited to swim.” But once Carmel settled down, Plumb said his team “swam great.”
Shackell won the butterfly race, in a state record time of 50.25 seconds. The old record of 50.57 seconds didn’t even last 24 hours – Shackell set that mark in last Friday’s prelims.
The best performance for Carmel was in the 500 free. Bowen led a 1-2-3 sweep for the ‘Hounds, winning the race in a new record time of 4:40.74. Bowen shattered the old record (which she set last year) by over two seconds. Ward placed second and Street was third; all three broke 4:50.
Shackell claimed a second championship by winning the backstroke in 51.63 seconds. Sweeney blitzed her way to a breaststroke championship, finishing that race in 59.47 seconds, almost three seconds ahead of second place. Carmel finished things off with a title in the 400 free relay, with Shackell, Bowen, Gorey and Sweeney winning that race in 3:18.66.
The Greyhounds totaled 21 medals at state, with 19 “A” Finals in the swimming events. Carmel also had two divers make the podium: senior Melaina Munson took sixth and sophomore Helena Gibson was eighth.
The ‘Hounds also had six swimmers in the consolation, or “B” Final of events, and they also contributed. Three Carmel swimmers won “B” Final races: junior Priscilla Smith in the 50 free, Barr in the backstroke and junior Addyson Czarnecki in the breaststroke. “B” Final wins are officially scored as ninth place and are worth nine team points.
“That’s what it takes to be a real team, to have those people scoring points” said Plumb. “And it’s not easy to do. They have to work extremely hard to get there and they did that.”