At the Columbus North Girls Swimming Sectional Monday, East Central had the top local finish taking fifth place. Milan came in sixth. Batesville and Lawrenceburg tied for seventh then Greensburg, South Dearborn, Rising Sun, Oldenburg and South Ripley rounded out places 10 through 14.
No local athletes earned a trip to state by winning an event but could possibly qualify on time. The only second place finish by an area athlete was East Central’s Tara Hall in the 100 back.
The diving sectional at Columbus North was completed Saturday. East Central’s Bree Cleary placed third and will advance to the diving regional at Jasper on Tuesday.
Please click on this link for complete team and individual results from the finals. We thank the IHSAA for the information.
Unedited report from South Ripley’s Stacy Eaglin: What a night! Darcie D. finished 10th in her 200 Free with a new school record time of 2:11 and finished 10th in 100 free 1:00.60. Olivia K. Finished 14th in the 50Free 28.65 and 15th in the 100free.
Unedited report from Batesville’s Greg McMullen: After a crazy week of weather, practice cancellations and school closings, the Batesville Bulldogs made the trip to Columbus North high school to participate in the girls IHSAA Sectional meet on Saturday and Monday.
The feeling was different, but the athletes showed their resilience by being able to come away with a three-year high on individual swims and the first 3-swimmer in a single event callback in McMullen’s tenure as the head coach.
Freshman Isabel Raab and seniors Maria Lopez and Lilly Wonnell all qualified in the 100 Butterfly for the Monday consolation final. Additional swims came from Lopez in the 200 IM, marking the first time in her 4-year career she was called back to swim in both individual events, Sophomore Taylor Blanton returned in the 100 Backstroke, while freshman Sarah Bedel returned in the 100 breaststroke.
“What surprised us the most, was that Maria didn’t even know she earned her spot in the 200 IM until I ran into her at the store on Sunday.” said first-year assistant coach Sidney Howard, “after I told her, she was jumping up and down in the aisle.”
The Lady Bulldogs, like all IHSAA teams, were unable to hold practice on Sunday but headed into the meet Monday with an amazing sixth-place finish in the 200 Medley Relay dropping 4-seconds off their original entry time.
Lopez, finished in 15th overall in the 200 IM and 11th in the 100 Fly, finishing the meet as BHS’ top point earner. Wonnell and Raab finished 12th and 15th, respectively. Both dropping time to finish the season with lifetime bests.
Taylor Blanton and Sarah Bedel rounded out the individual swims with 15th place finishes in their events. Blanton swam a season best to wrap up while Bedel finished breaking into the 1:24 range, earning her season goal time.
The 200 Medley relay was comprised of Blanton, Bedel, Lopez and Raab. The 200 and 400 Free relays finished 9th in both, with the 400 coming up from an 11th seed to take the heat, dropping 8 seconds off the seed time and coming away with 3 (unofficial) life time best swims.
“There’s so much to be happy about with this meet,” commented Coach McMullen. “Training schedules and plans were tossed aside due to the weather, and not just for us, the entire sectional. We’ve never used lack-of-access as an excuse. We show up, work hard and continue to grow. While we’ve had ‘better looking seasons’ on paper, the growth and development of this team is what matters. We have a lot of opportunities in front of us and will continue to be working on setting, and breaking, our goals.”
We thank coaches Eaglin and McMullen plus the IHSAA for their information.