Crawfordsville boys’ swimming and diving team is hoping to dominate the local swimming and diving sectional on Saturday.
The Athenians will carry nine top seed times in the 11 swimming events in Saturday’s finals after Thursday’s preliminary round.
Crawfordsville is seeded first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:44.56 and first in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:40.25.
“The guys are super pumped and ready to do whatever it takes to get another sectional championship,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick said.
The Athenians are looking to repeat as sectional champions, and win their sixth title in seven years.
Individually, Thristan Callejas is seeded first in the 100 butterfly in 55.63 seconds and first in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.79. Marshall Horton is seeded first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.63 seconds and first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.8. Whitman Horton is seeded first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:20.56 and first in the 100 backstroke in 56.06 seconds. Evan Chaney is seeded first in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:11.21.
After being shorthanded at the Sagamore Conference meet and finishing second, the Athenians have been motivated to return to championship form.
“Our last four weeks have been some of the best training we’ve had in years,” Hedrick said. “Our upperclassmen have really done a super job of being leaders of the effort in the pool.”
Other A-final swims for the Athenians, include Joseph Sanchez in the 200 freestyle, Hunter Conrad in the 200 individual medley, Ben Brown, Jack Pendleton, and Sam Decker in the 50 freestyle, Decker and Nicolas Rincon in the 100 butterfly, Brown and Pendleton in the 100 freestyle, Campbell Mason and Sanchez in the 500 freestyle, Chaney in the 100 backstroke, Conrad in the 100 breaststroke, and the 200 freestyle relay team.
Southmont will be led by Trent Jones, who is seeded second in the 50 freestyle in 22.83 seconds and second in the 100 butterfly in 56.4 seconds.
“Trent has been a leader for this team,” Southmont coach Jane Coudret said. “He has worked hard and paid attention to details in his racing. We had some weather related interruptions in training this week but he is ready to go.”
John Servies will swim in the A-final in the 200 freestyle, while Logan Harman will compete in the 200 individual medley. Servies will also swim in the A-final fof the 500 freestyle, and Harman in the 100 breaststroke. All three Mountie relay teams will also swim in the championship final.
North Montgomery coach Erin Yeager has seen big improvements from her swimmers this season and will be led by Jamason Burget and Caleb Cochran.
“The guys have been continually dropping time this season and getting better at technique as we go,” Yeager said. “I’m very proud of how much our new swimmers and divers have improved during the season. We have seen lots of improvements in the water from freshman Landon Birge, from sophomore Ben Eldridge and from junior Matthew Southwood. I had two divers(James McClerkin and Sam Sheetz) go from no dives at the beginning of the season to an 11-dive list by the end. With help from veteran swimmers Jamason Burget and Caleb Cochran, the goal is to qualify as many as possible for second swims and to get relays into the finals.”
Burget is seeded third in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:15.8 and third in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.8. The Chargers will swim in the A-final of the 200 freestyle relay.
Fountain Central’s Riley Nelson is seeded third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:00.26, while Noah Fruits is seeded fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2:21.16. Chase Witsman is seeded second in the 50 freestyle in 22.83 seconds, while Fruits is also seeded fourth in the 100 butterfly in 59.05 seconds. Witsman is also seeded fifth in the 100 freestyle in 52.18 seconds. Nelson is also seeded fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5:35.47.
Fountain Central will also swim in the A-final of all three relays.
