Carmel boys turn state streak up to 11

Greyhounds claim six events, Tigers soar to second place

The state streak continues for the Carmel boys swimming and diving team.

The Greyhounds put together another dominant performance last Saturday at the IU Natatorium, winning their 11^th consecutive state championship. Carmel scored 412.5 points, the second-largest total in IHSAA state finals history.

The margin of victory also got a place in the history book as well. The ‘Hounds outscored runner-up Fishers by 196.5 points, the fourth-largest winning margin in history. Carmel claimed six individual event championships and totaled 21 medals at the meet.

“I was just really impressed with our whole entire team,” said Greyhounds coach Chris Plumb. The coach complimented his team’s effort in both the preliminaries last Friday, in which Carmel qualified 21 swims into the “A” Final, or championship heat.

“Total team effort, getting all the ‘A’ Finals that we did,” said Plumb.

The Greyhounds’ most profitable event was the 500 freestyle. William Allen won that race in 4 minutes, 20.88 seconds, with Anderson Kopp right behind him in second place (4:21.19). Lewis Zhang was fourth (4:28.36); that 1-2-4 finish gave Carmel 52 team points.

The 500 free was Allen’s second win of the day. He earlier triumphed in the 200 free, clocking in at 1:37.07. Ethan Zhang tied for third, with Lewis Zhang placing seventh, giving Carmel three more medals and 47.5 points.

Plumb credited Allen’s “composure” and “the way he handled himself” for the success he had at state.

“He went from swimming the 50 (free), 100 (free) a year ago to the 200-500 a year later,” said Plumb. “You don’t see that happen very often.”

Carmel had four “Triple A” events at the state meet. Besides the two long-distance races, the Greyhounds went 2-3-6 in the individual medley; Yi Zheng finished second, Cory Han was third and Michael Gorey placed sixth, totaling 46 points.

Later, the ‘Hounds finished 3-4-5 in the backstroke. Kopp took third, Carter Hadley finished fourth and Han was fifth, which resulted in 45 points.

Carmel swept all three relays for the fourth year in a row. Andrew Shackell swam on each one, starting with the medley relay. He teamed with Kopp, Zheng, and Gorey to finish that event in 1:29.39.

The 200 free relay team of Shackell, Hadley, Gorey and Zheng paced that race with a time of 1:21.64. Finally, Shackell, Allen, Hadley and Kopp cruised to victory in the 400 free relay, clocking in at 2:59.53.

Shackell also won the butterfly, finishing that event in 47.42 seconds. That gave Shackell four championships for the meet and 11 for his career; he is one of six boys swimmers to win 11 or more state titles during high school.

Carmel got podium finishes in the 100 free from Hadley (third) and Ethan Zhang (seventh), and in the breaststroke from Zheng (fourth) and Gorey (eighth). William Pugh medaled in the 50 free by placing seventh, and also swam in the “B” Final of the butterfly, taking 15^th.

Pugh was one of two swimmers in a “B” Final. William Lathrop was the other, taking 10^th in the 100 free. Henry Summers finished 10^th in the diving event.

Fishers finished as the team runner-up for the second time in program history. The Tigers scored 216 points. (Julie Brown)

Runner-up Tigers

Fishers had a strong day at state, finishing as team runner-up with 216 points. It’s the sixth consecutive top five finish for the Tigers and their second time in second place. Fishers also was the 2020 runner-up.

The Tigers scored their largest total in the diving event. Mason Lawson was the runner-up, taking second with 529.65 points. Jacob Schade placed fourth (his third consecutive state medal) and Kirby Danglade was sixth, giving Fishers 45 team points.

Jonathan Hines placed second in the 200 free (1:37.55) and third in the 500 free. He also joined Alex Koo, Luis Sanchez and Hudson Lee for a runner-up finish in the 200 free relay. The Tigers had all three relays in the “A” Final: the medley team of Sanchez, Qwinton Upshaw, Lee and Koo placed sixth and the 400 free team of Lee, Anthony Adams Jr., Thomas Johanneman and Hines placed seventh.

Fishers had 10 medal winners overall. Koo got podium finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyles, placing sixth in both events. The Tigers also collected five “B” Final swims, from Adams in the 500 free (10^th) and 200 free (14^th), Sanchez in the IM (11^th), Lee in the butterfly (11^th) and Caden Askren in the 500 free (11^th).

HSE is top 10 again

Hamilton Southeastern placed 10^th for the second consecutive year. The Royals scored 81 points, tying them with Zionsville.

Jihoon Jung finished his Southeastern career with two state medals. Jung placed fourth in the IM and sixth in the butterfly. He was joined on the podium by Collin Huston, who finished sixth in the breaststroke.

The Royals had all three relays swim in the “B” Final. Two of those relays won their heat, officially placing ninth for scoring purposes. Huston, Jung and Derek Robison swam on both ninth-place relays, joining Jacob Frey on the medley relay, then teaming with Camden Bailey on the 400 free relay. Bailey and Robison teamed with Zach Marchisin and Nolan Pugh to take 15^th in the 200 free relay.

Kless medals for Millers

Noblesville senior diver Aiden Kless picked up his third consecutive state medal, placing fifth with 481.70 points. He helped the Millers to a 17^th-place team finish, as they totaled 28 points.

Two relays swam in the “B” Final for Noblesville. The medley team of Jackson Teske, Joshua Naas, Liam Hayward and Brayden Wright was 15^th, while the 400 free team of Naas, Drew Setmeyer, Isaiah Vohs and Hayward placed 12^th.

Rocks get two swims

Westfield had two “B” Final swims, accounting for nine points and a tie for 31^st place.

Garreth Thomas placed 14^th in the IM, then joined Alex Munn, Griffin Barents Froman and Zach Welch to take 14^th in the 400 free relay.

Ethan Zhang, Carmel, swims the 200 freestyle.

Reporter photos by Julie Brown