Fishers secures second-place finish & Southeastern rises to fourth
By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Even by Carmel’s incredibly high standards, the Greyhounds’ performance at the 2023 IHSAA girls state swimming and diving finals was historic.
From beginning to end, the meet was pure Carmel domination. The ‘Hounds won their 37th consecutive state championship last Saturday at the IU Natatorium, continuing their long and national-record title streak. Carmel rung up 498 points, breaking the record the Greyhounds set two years ago of 479.
“Just to even get to that level was just crazy,” said Carmel coach Chris Plumb. “Last night (in the prelims), we knew we swam well with all ‘A’ Finals except for two, and those two who didn’t went best times to get there. Just a magnificent team performance to have that many points.”
The ‘Hounds won 10 of the 12 events, setting a record for most events won in a single state meet. Then there are the event records, with Carmel setting five of them during the competition.
How about a national record, too? The Greyhounds started the meet with a new national mark in the medley relay, with Berit Berglund, Molly Sweeney, Alex Shackell and Meghan Christman winning in 1 minute, 36.98 seconds. Later, Carmel set a new national record in the 200 freestyle relay, with Sweeney, Grace Dougherty, Christman and Shackell finishing in 1:30.23.
“The great thing about this team is, it was fast at the top and it was extremely deep,” said Plumb. “And that just goes to show, each of these girls pushing each other, making each other better from the bottom to the top of this team.”
Shackell set two new records as an individual. The sophomore became the first Indiana swimmer to break the 22-second mark in the 50 free, finishing that race in 21.93 seconds. Later, Shackell set a new record in the butterfly of 50.89 seconds, piercing the 51-second threshold in that event.
Another sophomore, Lynsey Bowen, reset her state record in the 500 free. After blasting through that event in the prelims last Friday, Bowen lowered the record again in the finals with a time of 4:42.81. Bowen also was first in the 200 free (1:45.49).
Freshman Molly Sweeney also got a pair of individual victories, taking the individual medley (1:56.82) and breaststroke (59.78 seconds). Carmel finished the meet with a dominant win in the 400 free relay; Christman, Cummins, Berglund and Wilson clocked in at 3:21.84.
Berglund made some more history by winning the backstroke event, finishing in 51.80 seconds. With that win, she entered the record books as a rare four-time event winner, taking first in the backstroke every year from freshman to senior.
“The 100 back has always been my event,” said Berglund. “It’s my favorite event. I love it. I think the people before us like Claire Adams, Lacey Locke and all those great backstrokers have really pushed me and motivated me to be where I am today.”
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment,” said Plumb. “It speaks to her character and speaks to her consistency and working through the trials and tribulations of going through high school and COVID and working through all the things that happened.” Plumb said Berglund showed up “every single time” and “that speaks a lot to the person that she is.”
In all, Carmel finished the meet with 25 individual medals.
“I think all of us contribute something different to the team,” said Berglund, who has committed to swim at the University of Texas. “Being surrounded by all these girls, it motivates me every day and I hope I motivate them every day.”
TIGERS TAKE SECOND
Fishers used its depth and consistency to score 233 points, which gave the Tigers the runner-up trophy for the fourth year in a row.
Fishers got off to a solid start, with a third-place finish from Jo Jo Ramey, Avery Stein, Kate Mouser and Emma Schwertfeger in the medley relay. Ramey came right back to get second in the 200 free; she dropped over two seconds from the prelims to clock in at 1:46.05.
Ramey also placed third in the 500 free, then finished the meet by joining Addison Carlile, Nalanie Marinel Cortez and Mouser to place second in the 400 free relay. In all, Fishers won nine medals at the state meet.
“We just had some really good leadership out of this group with our seniors, with Jo Jo, Kate, Nalanie and Gretchen (Osmun),” said Tigers coach Joe Keller. “There’s not been many senior classes in the state of Indiana that can say that they graduated no lower than second place,” he said.
Fishers scored 233 points to finish as state runner-up for the fourth year in a row. The Tigers won nine state medals. (Richie Hall)
ROYALS RISE TO FOURTH
Hamilton Southeastern had a splendid day at state, scoring 148 points to take fourth place.
Leading the way was Audrey Crawford, who picked up four state medals. That included runner-up finishes in the IM and butterfly. She was also part of the third-place 400 free relay (with Lauren Bergman, Anna Stolle and Ashley Saple) and the fourth-place medley relay (with Naomi Haines, Katelyn Kertin and Kiley Zoeller).
“I was really impressed,” said Crawford. After swimming well at the prelims, Crawford said she wanted to get better in the finals. She did just that.
“I love this meet and I just really wanted to do well,” she said.
Southeastern had six medalists at state: Grace Newton placed seventh in the backstroke, while the 200 free relay team of Zoeller, Ava Olson, Bergman and Saple also took seventh.
“A meet like this is tight,” said HSE coach Christian Hanselman. “It’s really competitive, a couple of points here and there. We were as high as third and as low as sixth and we were on the higher side of that, finishing fourth.”
Hamilton Southeastern’s
Audrey Crawford placed second in two events and helped the Royals to a fourth-place team finish. (Richie Hall)
Noblesville took 16th as a team. The Millers had four swims at state, lead by Maya McDonald, who earned a medal by placing sixth in the breaststroke.
“The entire weekend was good,” said McDonald. “I’ll be honest, in-season wasn’t feeling so great. Going into sectionals, I was a little worried about how I was going to do living up to last year and everything like that.” McDonald said that she mentally “pulled my game together and really turned out good for the weekend.”
Hamilton Heights’ Teegan Madara placed 12th in the 500 free, setting a new school record and scoring five points for the Huskies.
Team scores (top five and all county): 1. Carmel 498, 2. Fishers 233, 3. Penn 156, 4. Hamilton Southeastern 148, 5. Zionsville 141, 16. Noblesville 46, T33. Hamilton Heights 5.
200 medley relay
“A” Final: 1. Carmel (Berit Berglund, Molly Sweeney, Alex Shackell, Meghan Christman), 1:36.98, new state and national record, 3. Fishers (Jo Jo Ramey, Avery Stein, Kate Mouser, Emma Schwertfeger) 1:42.83, 4. Southeastern (Naomi Haines, Katelyn Kertin, Audrey Crawford, Kiley Zoeller) 1:43.35.
200 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Lynsey Bowen (C) 1:45.49, 2. J. Ramey (F) 1:46.05, 3. Alexandra Ward (C) 1:47.61, 4. Erin Cummins (C) 1:49.01.
“B” Final: 13. Nalanie Marinel Cortez (F) 1:54.39, 14. Emma Schumacher (F) 1:54.51.
200 individual medley
“A” Final: 1. Sweeney (C) 1:56.82, 2. Crawford (HSE) 1:59.87, 3. Vivian Wilson (C) 2:01.66, 4. Mouser (F) 2:02.01, 5. Stein (F) 2:02.53, 6. Alyssa Street (C) 2:03.16.
“B” Final: 12. Anna Stolle (HSE) 2:06.27, 13. Avery Hannon (F) 2:07.97.
50 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Shackell (C) 21.93, new state record, 4. Christman (C) 22.94, 6. Grace Dougherty (C) 23.44.
“B” Final: 10. Addison Carlile (F) 23.95.
One-meter diving
Finals: 1. Mia Prusiecki (Center Grove) 478.30, 9. Gretchen Osmun (F) 392.90, 13. Eryn McMahon (N) 377.35.
Semi-finals: 18. Ella Penny (HSE) 267.70.
Prelims: 22. Melaina Munson (C) 166.70.
100 butterfly
“A” Final: 1. Shackell (C) 50.89, new state record, 2. Crawford (HSE) 53.56, 3. Keira Kask (C) 54.40.
“B” Final: 12. Parker Kurzawa (C) 56.48, 14. Carlile (F) 57.37.
100 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Lilian Christianson (Penn) 48.59, 2. Berglund (C) 49.09, 4. Cummins (C) 50.94, 7. Dougherty (C) 51.49.
“B” Final: 12. Marinel Cortez (F) 52.70, 13. Claire Francis (F) 52.73, 14. Ashley Saple (HSE) 52.79, 16. Zoeller (HSE) 53.43.
500 freestyle
“A” Final: 1. Bowen (C) 4:42.81, new state record, 2. Ward (C) 4:46.36, 3. J. Ramey (F) 4:50.15, 4. Mouser (F) 4:53.63, 6. Street (C) 4:55.95.
“B” Final: 10. Sabrina Ledwith (N) 5:02.55, 12. Teegan Madara (HH) 5:03.36, 14. Frankie Ramey (F) 5:06.24.
200 freestyle relay
“A” Final: 1. Carmel (Sweeney, Dougherty, Christman, Shackell) 1:30.23, new state and national record, 4. Fishers (Carlile, Schwertfeger, Francis, Stein) 1:35.09, 7. Southeastern (Zoeller, Ava Olson, Lauren Bergman, Saple) 1:35.58.
“B” Final: 12. Noblesville (Maya McDonald, Ellie Hayward, Caroline Santerre, Exley Tricker) 1:37.95.
100 backstroke
“A” Final: 1. Berglund (C) 51.80, 2. Kask (C) 54.78, 7. Grace Newton (HSE) 57.27.
“B” Final: 12. Kayla Barr (C) 57.08, 15. Hannon (F) 57.44.
100 breaststroke
“A” Final: 1. Sweeney (C) 59.78, 2. Wilson (C) 1:01.54, 3. Lucy Enoch (C) 1:02.85, 4. Stein (F) 1:03.17, 6. McDonald (N) 1:04.25.
“B” Final: 12. Stolle (HSE) 1:05.12, 15. Kertin (HSE) 1:06.44, 16. Schumacher (F).
400 freestyle relay
“A” Final: 1. Carmel (Christman, Cummins, Berglund, Wilson) 3:21.84, 2. Fishers (Carlile, Marinel Cortez, Mouser, J. Ramey) 3:26.40, 3. Southeastern (Crawford, Bergman, Stolle, Saple) 3:27.27.
“B” Final: 11. Noblesville (Haddie Vohs, Tricker, Hayward, Ledwith) 3:34.59.