Crawfordsville swim coach Kevin Hedrick expects big things from his senior girls.
And he has good reason to.
The trio of Guinevere Schmitzer-Torbert, Sophia Melevage and Ellie Walker helped the Athenians to eight event titles, including a relay sweep.
“For four years, right from the get-go their freshman year, they came in and were dominate in their events and continued that all the way through here,” Hedrick said. “You just can’t say enough about those seniors and everything they’ve done, their dedication, and just their drive to be winners.”
The dominance helped Crawfordsville to the IHSAA Sectional title at Crawfordsville on Saturday with a total of 462 points. North Montgomery was second with 378. Southmont placed seventh with 120 and Fountain Central 10th with 79.
Melevage, Schmitzer-Torbert and Walker joined junior Maesa Horton on the 200 medley relay winning team with a time of 1:52.33. Melevage and Horton teamed up with Melanie Dowd and Marie Hesler to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.7, while Schmitzer-Torbert, Walker, Hesler and Katherine Novak won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:44.26.
Schmitzer-Torbert swept her individual events with wins in the 200 individual medley in 2:14.75 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.76. Melevage won the 100 butterfly in 1:01.09, while Walker won the 100 freestyle in 56.01.
Youth led the Athenians in the 500 freestyle with Hesler, a junior, winning in 5:37.07, Novak, a junior, was second in 5:40.92, and Dowd, a sophomore, was third in 5:41. Dowd was also second in the 200 freestyle and Hesler third.
Remy Swinford took fourth in the 200 individual medley and Mabel Hoar sixth. Hoar was fourth in the 100 breaststroke and Swinford fifth. Horton was second in the 50 freestyle and Melevage fifth. Horton was also second in the 100 freestyle, Mila Blackwell placed fourth in the 100 butterfly. In the 100 backstroke, Walker was second and Novak fourth.
The sectional title is the second in a row for the Athenians, and 25th all-time in school history — which is the ninth most in state history.
“Our theme this year is ‘hard work,’ and that was our cheer most every day,” Hedrick said. “This is the culmination of the girls having a lot of fun and working hard. We talk about it a lot, if you want to win, you have to work harder than your opponents.”
North Montgomery had a strong day and produced a pair of champions that qualified for the state meet along with Crawfordsville’s event winners. Kylie Sankey swam to a win in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.04, while Dusty Robinson won the 100 backstroke in 59.92. Annabelle Verduin also qualified for a spot in the diving regional with a fourth-place finish.
“We’ve got a couple that get to keep going, and we look forward to watching Kylie and Dusty go at it at the state meet, and we are excited to see how Annabelle does at regional,” North Montgomery coach Erin Yeager said.
Additionally, Robinson placed second in the 200 individual medley, and Katelyn Woolwine eighth. Kate Merica was third in the 50 freestyle and Brooklyn Kerns and Ava Kilgour finished second and third respectively in the 100 butterfly. Sankey also finished fourth in the 100 freestyle and Anna Cain eighth. Merica was also fourth in the 500 freestyle and Kilgour fifth. Kerns was third in the 100 breaststroke.
“A lot of really good swims,” Yeager said. “I had a lot of big step ups, when I needed big step ups. They swam out of their minds, even better than they thought they could.”
Freshman Astrid Rabeyrin was the top finisher for Southmont — placing seventh in the 500 freestyle, while freshman Reva Douglas was seventh in the 100 breaststroke.
“I thought we had a really good meet,” Southmont coach Dan McCormick said. “We swam really well and had some new best times. We are losing are lone senior Kendyll (Bullerdick), she will be missed next year,”
Fountain Central’s Peyton Hocking is a regional qualifier in diving with a second-place finish.
