By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Carmel senior Gregg Enoch was powering to the finish, well ahead of the other swimmers in the 400 freestyle relay as the IHSAA boys state swimming and diving meet reached its conclusion.
It was a symbolic image of the meet, as the Greyhounds outdistanced the other teams by a margin of historic proportions on their way to a 10th consecutive state championship.
Carmel dominated last Saturday’s state swimming finals at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. The ‘Hounds rang up 409 points, the second-highest total in state meet history. Only Carmel’s 2018 state champion team netted a higher total, with that squad scoring 417 points.
But it was the margin of victory that re-wrote the record books. The Greyhounds outscored runner-up Penn by 244 points, by far the highest-ever distance between the champion team and the runner-up. Carmel set the old record in 2003; that team outscored South Bend Riley by 226 points.
“I think today was just all about the strength of our team and we did a great job last night,” said Greyhounds coach Chris Plumb. The 31-time state champion coach has said before that the state meet is won in the Friday night preliminaries, and Carmel did its job that night, getting 20 swims into the “A” Final, or championship heat.
“I think it just speaks to the depth, the hard work of the whole entire team,” said Plumb. “The top guys bringing guys up to make sure that they set the standard to swim at this level, understand what it takes to score in an ‘A’ Final. To have 20 ‘A’ Final swims is really what makes that score happen. That’s not easy to do.”
The Greyhounds swept all three relays, opening with a victory in the medley relay. Juniors Anderson Kopp, Andrew Shackell and Michael Gorey teamed with senior Brandon Malicki to win that race in 1 minute, 29.39 seconds.
Shackell, Malicki, Gorey and Enoch combined for a victory in the 200 free relay, clocking in at 1:22.02; the ‘Hounds dropped two and a half seconds off their prelims time. Finally, Carmel put the exclamation point on the meet with a 400 free relay win. Sophomore Lewis Zhang, freshman William Allen, junior Ethan Zhang and Enoch paced that race in 3:02.79, nearly four seconds ahead of second-place Bloomington South.
“Our relays definitely stepped up today, which is great,” said Plumb. “To have three relay wins at this competition is never easy. I felt really good about all our relay performances.”
Enoch also claimed a pair of individual titles, winning the individual medley in 1:45.06, where he led a 1-2 finish with Gorey. Later, Enoch cruised to victory in the 500 free, taking that race in 4:19.55. Enoch was the runner-up in the 500 free his sophomore and junior seasons, and in the individual medley his junior year, so he was happy to finally reach the top spot on the podium.
“It feels amazing to be on top,” said Enoch, who is committed to the University of Louisville. He was also happy to do his part to add on to the Carmel legacy, one that has won 10 state titles in 10 years.
“I have a great connection with those guys that started the tradition, with Drew Kibler, Jake Mitchell, Wyatt Davis,” said Enoch. “Big Carmel names. Aaron Shackell, right? The names that we’ve seen in the past 10 years.” Enoch said he was “doing my duty to add on to it. This team, these future guys, these underclassmen will do the same.”
Three Greyhounds swimmers finished as runners-up in their events. Gorey got the silver in the IM behind Enoch, Lewis Zhang was second in the 200 free and Malicki was the breaststroke runner-up.
Andrew Shackell is adding to his family’s legacy as well. In addition to the relay wins, he placed third in the 50 free and butterfly, while Kopp took the bronze in the backstroke. Lewis Zhang placed third in the 500 free.
Other Carmel medal winners were: sophomore Brian Qian (fourth in the IM), Kopp (fourth in the 500 free), Ethan Zhang (fifth in the 200 free), Malicki (fifth in the 50 free), senior Carson Szotek (sixth in the backstroke), Gorey (sixth in the breaststroke), Allen (eighth in the 50 free) and senior Emile Haig (eighth in the butterfly).