Carmel’s Shackell sets new backstroke record; Huskies, Rocks advance two swims
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Carmel swim coach Chris Plumb summed it up best after Friday’s girls state swimming preliminaries: “The most exciting thing about this group is that everybody who swam today is swimming tomorrow.”
The Greyhounds had 25 swims at the state prelims, and all 25 advanced to Saturday’s state finals, which take place this afternoon at the IU Natatorium. With 19 of those swims in the “A” Final, or championship heat, and the other six in the “B” Final (consolation heat), Carmel has put itself in a solid position as it looks to continue its historic streak.
“That’s super cool to get 100 percent back,” said Plumb. “It’s not an easy meet, there’s a lot going on. I felt good about their performances and we had some people maybe on the outside who moved up. And the cool thing is we got a lot of ‘A’ Finals and that’s going to score some points to win this meet.”
Of course, the ‘Hounds don’t wait until the finals to make history. Junior Alex Shackell rewrote the record book Friday night by setting a new state record in the butterfly event. Shackell broke her own mark by swimming that event in 50.57 seconds; her old time of 50.89 seconds won her the state championship last year.
Shackell is the top seed in the butterfly for the finals, as well as the backstroke, which she finished in 52.00 seconds for the prelims. Junior Lynsey Bowen also earned two top seeds, first in the 200 freestyle (1 minute, 46.40 seconds) and in the 500 free (4:44.85). Bowen leads a 1-2-3 Greyhounds march into the 500 finals today, with Alyssa Street the second seed and Alexandra Ward the third seed.
Sophomore Molly Sweeney took the first seed in the individual medley (1:57.05) and the breaststroke (1:00.42). Carmel is also top-seeded in the medley relay (1:41.25) and the 400 free relay (3:24.93).
Freshman Faith Gorey stepped up in the 50 free, where she won a swimoff to earn a place in the “A” Final. Gorey and New Prairie senior Emma Tulacz tied for eighth in the prelims, which necessitated the swimoff. Gorey easily won that race to get into the championship heat.
Fishers had a solid evening at the meet, sending eight swims into the “A” Final and seven more in the “B” Final for a total of 15 advancing swims.
The Tigers were led by freshman Emily Wolf, who qualified third in both the butterfly and backstroke events. Senior Avery Stein was third in the IM and breaststroke, while Emma Schumacher finished fifth in the 500 free. Fishers also sent all three relays into the championship heat.
“The girls did a really good job of getting up and racing,” said Tigers assistant coach Alec Haley. “We had some swims move up into some scoring heats and they got their hand on the wall when they needed to.”
Hamilton Southeastern’s Meghan Voelker, Kelsey Graham and Eloise Harrison cheer for the Royals’ medley relay team at the beginning of the meet. (Richie Hall)
Hamilton Southeastern had five swims reach the “A” Final and another four qualify for the “B” Final. Senior Audrey Crawford took second in the IM and butterfly, while Kiley Zoeller was fifth in the 50 free. The Royals advanced their medley and 400 free relays to the “A” Final as well.
“I’m really proud of how they swam and how they competed,” said Southeastern coach Christian Hanselmann. “There are some ups and downs and that’s just how meets go. Proud of them for getting back up and keeping on and fighting through some adversity and just looking forward to tomorrow.”
Noblesville has six swims coming back for the finals. Senior Maya McDonald made the “A” Final in the breaststroke, qualifying third in 1:02.46.
The Millers’ other five swims are all in the “B” Finals. Sophomore Haddie Vohs made it back in the 200 free and butterfly events, and Noblesville qualified all three relays to the consols.
Hamilton Heights and Westfield both had two swims make the “B” Final. Both of those Huskies swims will be in the 500 free, with senior Teegan Madara qualifying ninth and her sister, freshman Ayla Madara, qualifying 13th.
Also in the 500 free, Westfield sophomore Kate Cassidy placed 14th and will swim in the consolation of that event. The Shamrocks’ 200 free relay placed 16th, getting it into the “B” Final there.
Championship Saturday begins with the diving prelims at 9 a.m., with the semifinals to follow. Swimming and diving finals begin at 1 p.m.
Positions 1-8 qualify for “A” Final (championship heat), positions 9-16 qualify for “B” Final (consolation heat), positions 17 and 18 are alternates.
200 medley relay: 1. Carmel (Grace Dougherty, Molly Sweeney, Alex Shackell, Lillian Clark) 1:41.25, 2. Hamilton Southeastern (Naomi Haines, Julia Kiley, Audrey Crawford, Kiley Zoeller) 1:42.29, 4. Fishers (Avery Hannon, Polina Sopova, Emily Wolf, Emma Schwertfeger) 1:44.32, 10. Noblesville (Haddie Vohs, Maya McDonald, Emily Knott, Exley Tricker) 1:46.62, 20. Hamilton Heights (Amira Leer, Teegan Madara, Ayla Madara, Sophia Hulen) 1:50.17.
200 freestyle: 1. Lynsey Bowen (C) 1:46.40, 7. Alyssa Street (C), 8. Alexandra Ward (C) 1:50.69, 9. Emma Schumacher (F) 1:50.86, 13. Vohs (N) 1:52.36, 15. Claire Francis (F) 1:52.69, 19. Mia Henderson (HSE) 1:54.04, 21. A. Madara (HH) 1:54.83.
200 individual medley: 1. Sweeney (C) 1:57.05, 2. Crawford (HSE) 2:00.49, 3. Avery Stein (F) 2:01.59, 4. Lucy Enoch (C) 2:02.35, 6. Kayla Barr (C) 2:04.34, 13. Mia Wilson (F) 2:07.17, 17. T. Madara (HH) 2:08.37.
50 freestyle: 5. Zoeller (HSE) 23.56, 8. Faith Gorey (C) 23.93, 11. Priscilla Smith (C) 24.07, T13. Madelyn Lathrop (C) 24.15, 18. Schwertfeger (F) 24.27.
100 butterfly: 1. Shackell (C) 50.57, new state record, 2. Crawford (HSE) 53.71, 3. Wolf (F) 53.88, 4. Gorey (C) 54.47, 14. Vohs (N) 57.53, 24. Ellason Miller (HSE) 58.89, 27. Lisa Bradford (F) 59.75.
100 freestyle: 4. Dougherty (C) 50.21, 9. Addyson Czarnecki (C) 51.31, 10. Sophia Floyd (C) 51.45, 11. Zoeller (HSE) 51.58, 16. Schwertfeger (F) 52.66, 18. Henderson (HSE) 52.99, 19. Haines (HSE) 53.11.
500 freestyle: 1. Bowen (C) 4:44.85, 2. Street (C) 4:48.71, 3. Ward (C) 4:51.56, 5. Schumacher (F) 4:57.33, 9. T. Madara (HH) 5:01.96, 12. Izzy Heuck (F) 5:04.81, 13. A. Madara (HH) 5:05.22, 14. Kate Cassidy (Westfield) 5:06.28, 15. Francis (F) 5:07.08, 20. Leer (HH) 5:12.68.
200 freestyle relay: 3. Fishers (Stein, Francis, Frankie Ramey, Schwertfeger) 1:35.24, 10. Noblesville (Ellie Hayward, Julia Santerre, Mia Field, McDonald) 1:39.22, 16. Westfield (Anna McKeown, Alexandra Irvin, Maggie Alley, Nora Sperry) 1:39.90, Southeastern DQ.
100 backstroke: 1. Shackell (C) 52.00, 3. Wolf (F) 54.91, 8. Dougherty (C) 55.90, 14. Barr (C) 56.69, 15. Haines (HSE) 56.81, 20. Hannon (F) 57.60.
100 breaststroke: 1. Sweeney (C) 1:00.42, 3. McDonald (N) 1:02.46, 4. Stein (F) 1:03.04, 5. Enoch (C) 1:03.3, 10. Czarnecki (C) 1:03.91, 11. Eloise Harrison (HSE) 1:04.67, 13. Kiley (HSE) 1:05.11, 16. Sopova (F) 1:05.91.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Carmel (Bowen, Floyd, Ward, Barr) 3:24.93, 3. Fishers (Stein, Schumacher, Francis, Wolf) 3:27.40, 5. Southeastern (Crawford, Henderson, Kiley, Zoeller) 3:27.64, 15. Noblesville (Vohs, Knott, Hayward, Tricker) 3:35.95, 18. Heights (Hulen, Leer, T. Madara, A. Madara) 3:37.66.
Reporter photos by Richie Hall