The Batesville High School Lady “Aquadogs” traveled to the East Central Natatorium for the IHSAA Sectional championships over the weekend. With the competition starting on Thursday, the women’s program swam 22 individual events and three additional relays.
Juniors Sarah Bedel and Isabel Raab were able to qualify in both individual events (100 free and breaststroke for Bedel, 50 free and 100 butterfly for Raab) while also participating in two of the relay events with Taylor Blanton sneaking into the top 16 after a late-night scratch moved her from top alternate to participant in the 100 backstroke. Blanton was also the lead-off on the Medley Relay, while anchoring the 400 free relay on Thursday evening and moving to second position during the finals.
All three individual qualifiers participated in the consolation final with Raab taking the highest rank finishing 9th in the 50 Freestyle.
Coach McMullen had this to say about the performance of the team, “our women always come out strong and perform well at this competition. While we know it’s a steep mountain to climb, we always come out with the intent to score.”
On Saturday, the ladies came out of the gate finishing in a 5th place tie with Columbus East, and set the tone for the competition. Isabel also came out extremely strong in the 50 hitting the wall and taking off to maintain her place.
After the diving break, Sarah Bedel came out with another personal best in the 100 freestyle to place 12th overall while Raab, for the second year in a row, dropped a huge chunk of time in the 100 Fly to finish 15th.
In the 200 Freestyle Relay, the team dropped additional time off the prelim swim with all four members dropping time to bring home a 7th place finish.
Taylor Blanton then followed up with a 16th-place finish in the 100 Backstroke.
Sarah Bedel hit the pool in the 100 Breaststroke finishing in 12th dropping time from Thursday evening.
Finally, the 400 Free Relay team of Sam Adams, Blanton, Meg Siefert, and Emma Miller put together an extremely strong effort to close out the night in 9th place edging Milan in the head-to-head consolation race.
TEAM SCORES
- Bloomington South
- Columbus North
- Bloomington North
- East Central
- Columbus East
- Edgewood
- South Dearborn
- Batesville, 89
- Rising Sun, 61
- Greensburg, 53
- Milan, 47
- South Ripley, 26
- Oldenburg Academy, 24
- Lawrenceburg, 17
TOP FINISHERS
Women
Isabel Raab – 9th (50 Free); 15th (100 Fly)
Sarah Bedel – 14th (100 Free); 12th (100 Breaststroke)
Taylor Blanton – 16th (100 Back)
200 Medley Relay – 5th (tie), Blanton, Bedel, Raab, Emma Miller
200 Free Relay – 7th, Samantha Adams, Ella Moster, Bedel, Raab
400 Free Relay – 9th Adams, Taylor Blanton, Meg Siefert, Miller
NOTABLES
Isabel Raab led all BHS scorers with 11 points total
Of the 24 entries on the weekend, 17 were Personal Bests
Two swimmers achieved season-best times
BHS placed in the top 8 for two of the three relay events
UP NEXT
The men’s team will be visiting Columbus North to participate in the sectional meet on February 15 and 17, 2024. Prelims will begin at 6:00pm on Thursday while finals will begin at 1:30pm on Saturday.
Submitted by the school’s athletic department.