The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many things about high school sports in Montgomery in 2020. But that didn’t seem to matter on Tuesday as a shorthanded Crawfordsville boys’ swimming and diving team won its seventh straight county title, Southmont’s girls’ team repeated, and three records fell including two county meet marks.
Crawfordsville sophomore Trinity Deck broke the county meet record in girls’ diving-6 with a mark of 226.1. On the boys’ side, the Crawfordsville 200 freestyle relay team of Whitman and Marshall Horton, Evan Chaney, and Thristan Callejas set a new county meet record with a swim of 1:31.08.
“That’s pretty exciting for them to do it here at the county, and break a county record by a second and a half,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick said. “That’s pretty huge especially in a year where we have only had three guys that haven’t been quarantined. It’s a testament.”
Hedrick said the Athenians were at exactly 50% strength by numbers on Tuesday due to quarantined athletes, but it didn’t matter. Crawfordsville scored 212 points, Southmont was second at 81, and North Montgomery third at 77.
The same Athenian foursome won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:44.98, while Rylan Huckstep, Nicolas Rincon, Campbell Mason, and Sam Decker won the 400 freestyle relay in 4:26.52.
Callejas also won the 200 freestyle in 1:53.25 and the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.83 seconds.
Whitman Horton cruised to wins in the 50 freestyle in 22.63 seconds and the 100 backstroke in 56.54 seconds. Marshall Horton won the 100 freestyle in 50.45 seconds and the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.39. Chaney won the 200 individual medley in 2:15.19. Mason won the 500 freestyle in 6:11.19.
Southmont junior Trent Jones, who has at times this winter been the Mounties’ only healthy boys swimmer, placed second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.63 seconds, and second in the 100 butterfly in 56.37 seconds.
“He swam at least one meet by himself and another that it was just two boys,” Southmont coach Jane Coudret said. “and he’s just really maintained a great attitude. He was excited to have the four guys and have a relay today.”
Logan Harman was second in the 200 individual medley in 2:28.84, and second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.56. And the duo teamed up with Mason Cass and Aaron Evans to swim the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.
North Montgomery freshman diver Sam Sheetz won the boys’ diving portion with a score of 80.2.
On the girls’ side, Southmont’s repeat came by the way of a team effort, holding off second place North Montgomery by a score of 276-250. Crawfordsville was third with 44.
“That’s our strength is our depth and that showed coming through today,” Southmont coach Jane Coudret said. “They kind of came through for us today and that’s what it was about was just racing, I told them. And we had a lot of best times today.”
Senior Megan Scheidler took home wins in the 500 freestyle (5:50.59) and the 100 backstroke (1:04.85). Bailey Barker was second in the 200 freestyle (2:20.27) and the 100 breaststroke (1:23.24).
Jordan Stanley was second in the diving with a score of 216.95, which also broke the previous county meet record.
North Montgomery took home all three relays and a handful of individual titles, none more impressive than Sidney Campbell’s new school record with a time of 1:59.72 in the 200 freestyle.
“We are super excited,” North Montgomery coach Erin Yeager said. “She was bummed last year because she was just a little bit off chasing that same record, so to be able to get it and by two seconds and take it under the two-minute time frame.”
Campbell also won the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.76. Maggie Michael won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:34.76, and Kelsey Anderson won the 100 breaststroke in 1:20.17.
Michael, Anderson, Annabel Anderson, and Madelynn Mershon won the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:07.43, while Mershon, K. Anderson, and Campbell joined Gracen Schwabe to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:50.51, and Michael, Sydnee Turner, A. Anderson, and Campbell won the 400 freestyle relay in 4:14.53.
Deck’s mark of 226.1 broke the previous diving-6 county record set by Britney Ward with 212.1 in 2015. It also came one day after the sophomore broke the school record with a score of 246.05. Ella Hudson also placed third at the county meet with a score of 177.25.
“Her and Ella Hudson both have really come in, and they’ve really really been getting after it everyday,” Hedrick said. “I can’t say enough about their work ethic. They just push each other and I made the comment the other day at practice that they were working harder than anybody in my pool. That doesn’t normally happen. Not that they don’t normally work hard, but that you don’t notice they are working hard.”
For most of the year, they’ve been the only divers in the pool for the Athenians.
Crawfordsville junior Alyx Bannon took home wins in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.43 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 56.50 seconds.
