By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Avery Stein’s parents were on the IU Natatorium floor, waiting behind the diving boards.
A few minutes later, Stephen and Jacqueline Stein’s daughter was announced as the IHSAA’s Mental Attitude Award for girls swimming. The award is given out to a senior athlete at the state finals of each IHSAA sport.
“I am really shocked,” said Stein. “I’m extremely grateful for even the opportunity to be nominated. I think this award just means the world to me. I think it’s more than winning or anything. All the hard work and what swimming has taught me.”
Stein picked up four medals at the state meet. She placed third in the individual medley and fifth in the breaststroke, joined junior Claire Francis, sophomore Frankie Ramey and junior Emma Schwertfeger to place third in the 200 freestyle relay, and finished the meet by teaming with freshman Emily Wolf, junior Emma Schumacher and Francis for a runner-up finish in the 400 free relay.
“Being with all the girls on my team, we really excel in mental attitude,” said Stein, who will swim at the University of Missouri, where she received admission to the Honors College and plans to major in pre-professional dental. “The grit that we show and the excellence that we achieve really shows our work ethic and our coaches really set us up for our achievements. They really lead us through swimming and through life.”
While Stein is graduating, the freshman Wolf is setting herself up for success. She placed second in the butterfly and fifth in the backstroke. Wolf began the meet by joining sophomores Avery Hannon and Polina Sopova and Schwertfeger to place fourth in the medley relay.
Schumacher also took fifth in the 500 free. Fishers totaled eight medals and finished third as a team with 202 points. Penn was this year’s team runner-up; the Kingsmen scored 212 points and had three event wins, including a new state record in the 50 free by senior Lilian Christianson of 21.72 seconds.
Crawford leads HSE
Hamilton Southeastern finished sixth as a team, scoring 127 points. A senior led the way for the Royals: Audrey Crawford, as she picked up four state medals.
Crawford placed second in the individual medley, not long after she teamed with Naomi Haines, Julia Kiley and Kiley Zoeller to finish third in the medley relay. Crawford also took third in the backstroke, and finished the meet by teaming with sophomore Mia Henderson, Kiley and Zoeller for a fourth-place medal in the 400 free relay.
“I’m content with it,” said Crawford. “It’s definitely not what I wanted to do. But I’m always hungry for more.”
Crawford enjoyed the bond she had with her Royals teammates, who totaled five medals at state. Zoeller placed eighth in the 50 free.
“I love this team,” said Crawford, who has committed to Auburn University. Crawford said that once she got on campus, she felt like it was the right choice – “I love the coaching staff, I love everyone, I love the team,” she said.
Millers’ McDonald 3rd in breaststroke
Noblesville senior Maya McDonald worried that the 1:02 she swam in the breaststroke in the sectional was a fluke.
“But when I repeated it twice at state, I knew that all the hard work had paid off,” she said. McDonald’s reward was a third-place state medal in the event, in which she clocked in at 1:02.53 in last Saturday’s state finals.
McDonald improved from a sixth-place finish in last year’s state meet and dropped over a second of time as well. She also got to enjoy the atmosphere of the Natatorium one more time.
“It’s bittersweet because this is the last one, with it being senior year,” said McDonald. “Some of these girls I’ve been swimming with for four years now. It’s been a good ride with everybody and I’m sad that it’s over.”
McDonald will swim at Ball State University this fall. “I’m really excited to see what I can do there,” she said.
The Millers had a solid day at state, placing 11th with 71 points. Noblesville had two “B” final victories in relays, starting with the medley relay team of sophomore Haddie Vohs, McDonald, senior Emily Knott and junior Exley Tricker. Noblesville’s 200 free relay team of McDonald, junior Julia Santerre, senior Mia Field and junior Ellie Hayward also won the “B” heat. Both teams finished ninth officially.
Vohs also swam two “B” finals, placing 11th in the butterfly and 13th in the 200 free. Eryn McMahon was 14th in diving.
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Hamilton Heights sisters Teegan and Ayla Madara both swam the “B” final of the 500 free.
The senior Teegan won that race, again officially placing ninth with a time of 4:59.29. Ayla, a freshman finished 13th in the race. Junior Campbell Lively-Mason placed ninth in diving.
Westfield sophomore Kate Cassidy competed in the 500 free, where she tied for 15th place. The Shamrocks’ 200 free relay team of junior Anna McKeown, senior Alexandra Irvin and freshmen Maggie Alley and Nora Sperry placed 13th.