The Crawfordsville swimming and dive team is off to a strong start to their 2021-22 season. The Athenians looked to continue that strong start Thursday as they welcomed Seeger. Crawfordsville would end up sweeping the Patriots as the girls were victorious by a score of 99-81 while the boys continued their dominating start with a 131-44 win.
On the girls side senior Alyx Bannon lead the Athenians to victory by winning four events including 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, and the 400 freestyle relay. Freshman Sophia Melevage also claimed victory in four events including the 200 and 400 freestyle relay with Bannon and also the 100 freestyle and 200 IM.
For the boys sophomore Whitman Horton took home four first place finishes. Hortman was a member of the 100 and 200 freestyle relays as well as taking first in 50 and 100 freestyle.
The girls record improved to 2-1 on the season while the boys stayed perfect at 3-0. Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick is loving where his team is at through the first three meets of the year.
“We’re in pretty good shape so far and we’re not letting up,” Hedrick said. “We’re in a position where we have lots of great talent on both sides. Even though on the girls side we have a ton of freshman, they’re talented freshman. We looked at the times of where we were at last year at this point and across the board we’re faster than where we were last season.”
Eight of the 14 girls for Crawfordsville are freshman this season combined with two juniors and four seniors. For Hedrick it’s made for a nice blend and at this point in the season it’s all about finding consistency.
“It can be a difficult transition sometimes for our freshman whether its on the boys or girls side,” he said. “It’s a whole different animal than what they’re used to. We’re still battling some COVID and illness issues on that side so we’re just trying to be as consistent as we can be this early in the year.”
Over on the boys side it’s the complete opposite for the Athenians as they’re led by seven seniors. Despite the Athenians being senior-led, Hedrick has been impressed with how his younger guys are performing early on.
“We’ve had more lifetime bests from our freshman so far this year and I’ve really been impressed with them,” he said. “Hutton Haas has been working his tail off and they’ve all been a breath of fresh air. Our seniors have just been rock solid like they have been the past three years and it’s nice to have that in your pocket, knowing you can count on them.”
Back over on the girls side of things, it was a little bit of a change in the lineup for Crawfordsville as Hedrick moved some of his swimmers around in different events for the first time. That didn’t stop them from embracing the challenge and still being able to come out on top.
“They did well for the situation they were put in,” Hedrick said. “Sadie Walker had never swam the 100 butterfly before and she was scared to death going in, but she picked up a win in that which was huge for us. It’s good for the girls to get a break from their normal events. Our freshman allow me to switch things up because they’ll swim in any event and still be pretty successful.”
Crawfordsville will be back in the pool on Saturday as they travel to compete in the Pike Invitational.
