By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – It was another solid year at the state meet for Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern, as the Tigers scored their best-ever finish and the Royals added another chapter to their great tradition.
Fishers placed fourth at the state meet by scoring 158 points, improving by one notch its highest finish at the IU Natatorium and easily scoring its biggest point total yet. The Tigers’ previous best result as a team was fifth, back in 2010.
“I think we performed very well this season,” said Fishers coach Joe Keller. “We’ve gotten a lot better. As I told the boys, probably coming out of Christmas break, I thought we had a legit chance to be a top five-type team.”
The Tigers were led by their 500 freestyle swimmers, who finished 2-3-4 in that event. Junior Jackson Carlile was the runner-up, followed by senior Aaron Frollo in third and sophomore Kyle Ponsler in fourth.
In all, Fishers totaled nine state medals. Carlile placed fourth and Frollo was fifth in the 200 free, while Ponsler took eighth in the individual medley. That trio finished the meet by teaming with junior Tyler Schwertfeger to place sixth in the 400 free relay. Two divers added to the Tigers’ medal total: Sophomores William Jansen and Sebastian Otero finished sixth and seventh respectively.
The Fishers 200 free relay team won the consolation heat in that event, officially placing ninth for scoring purposes. Carlile, Frollo and Ponsler joined senior Bruno Kitazuka in that race. Freshman Connor Carlile took 15th in the individual medley.
“We just feel like we’re taking some nice steps now in the program and we’re excited about what the future holds,” said Keller.
Southeastern picked up its 19th top 10 finish in school history by tying for sixth place. The Royals joined Penn in scoring 136 points. There were six medal winners for the Southeastern team.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” said HSE coach Andy Pedersen. “They stepped up and swam in a very fast meet. They swam really, really well. Especially proud of DJ Rogers and Keegan Streett, who had eight swims on the weekend, and that’s really hard to do. They were fantastic on all eight. I got to give them a lot of credit. I was really proud of them.”
Streett, a junior, was part of two runner-up finishes. First, he took second in the 200 free. Later, he teamed with the senior Rogers, junior Zack Bostock and senior Andrew Christopher to tie for the runner-up spot in the 200 free relay. Streett also medaled in the 100 free, taking fifth.
All three of the Royals’ relays earned medals. Streett and the senior trio of Evan Sellers, Marcus Eden and Rogers finished the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 400 free relay. Eden and Christopher joined two more seniors, Andrew Truxall and Connor Harrison, to start the meet with a seventh-place finish in the medley relay.
“Today our goal was just, have what we have and run with it, and I think we did a pretty good job of that,” said Rogers.
Sophomore AJ Ricafort jumped onto the medal stands with an eighth-place finish in the diving. Ricafort scored 50 points on his final dive to move onto the medal stands, making it by 0.25 points. Pedersen said Ricafort “absolutely crushed it” with the final dive.
“Very deserving young man,” said Pedersen.
Rogers also swam in two consolation heats, placing 13th in the 50 free and 15th in the 100 free. Sellers finished 14th in the 500 free.
“Every single person in all my races, I’ve known personally for the past five, six years, we’ve been swimming with each other,” said Rogers, who will swim for the University of Iowa. “Not even just my team, but all the other teams. And watching them win is just exciting as watching my own team win. We’re all one big family. We go to national camps together all the time. It’s just a really close-knit community here.”
Fishers had an outstanding race in the 500 freestyle, finishing 2-3-4 in that event. Pictured from left to right are fourth-place finisher Kyle Ponsler, third-place finisher Aaron Frollo and runner-up Jackson Carlile. (Kent Graham)
Three Hamilton County divers finished on the podium: Hamilton Southeastern’s AJ Ricafort placed eighth, Fishers’ Sebastian Otero was seventh and Fishers’ William Jansen took sixth. (Kent Graham)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Keegan Streett (foreground) finished second in the 200 freestyle and was part of the Royals’ 200 free relay team that tied for second place. Pictured in the background is Carmel’s Griffin Hadley. (Kent Graham)