Crawfordsville used a pair of double winners and a relay sweep to dominate the IHSAA Boys Swim Sectional on Saturday afternoon at the Crawfordsville Aquatics Center.
The Athenians won 10 of the 12 events including diving, on their way to shattering the record for most points in a sectional with 494 to distance themselves from second-place Twin Lakes (396). Fountain Central was third with 205, Southmont seventh with 174 and North Montgomery eighth at 113.
It’s the second-straight sectional title for the Athenians, and sixth in the last seven years. They also tied a program record by winning nine swimming events.
“This has been a very difficult season for many,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick said. “And we tried not to get too high with expectations because of the COVID, because of everything that was going on and kids not coming into the season in as good as shape as they wanted it. And there were just a lot of challenges throughout the season, and they stepped up throughout the season, especially these last five or six weeks. We were just very fortunate to have all of our guys healthy and able to do the best they can.”
Crawfordsville’s depth led to three dominating performances in the relays. The team of Whitman Horton, Marshall Horton, Thristan Callejas, and Sam Decker won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:37.39, while W. Horton, Jack Pendleton, Callejas, and M. Horton won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:29.47. Evan Chaney, Joseph Sanchez, Hunter Conrad and Ben Brown swam to a win in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:32.92.
Both Marshall and Whitman Horton added a pair of individual wins. Marshall won the 100 freestyle in 48.09 seconds, and the 100 breaststroke in 59.82 seconds. Whitman won the 500 freestyle in 5:05.09 and the 100 backstroke in 55.01 seconds.
Callejas added a win in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:49.9, while Chaney won the 200 individual medley in 2:06.13. Senior Eli Reeves won the diving portion with a mark of 360.7.
The Athenians swam 82% lifetime bests on Saturday in the finals, a testament to the work they’ve put in during the back-half of the season.
“It was paying attention and when you go into something as the favorite, like we were fortunate enough to do here, it’s easy to lose sight of what got you there and so we really paid attention and our upperclassmen did a really good job of helping lead by example and doing a lot of those things, and we had fun. Not only did we work our butts off, but we had fun doing it,” Hedrick said.
Conrad picked up a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.02 and was second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.1. Chaney was second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.12 seconds and Callejas was second in the 100 butterfly in 53.63 seconds. Brown was second in the 100 freestyle in 49.43 seconds and fourth in the 50 freestyle in 22.61 seconds. Pendleton finished fifth in the 50 freestyle in 22.7 seconds and fifth in the 100 freestyle in 51.66 seconds. Sanchez placed seventh in the 200 freestyle in 2:02.91 and sixth in the 500 freestyle in 5:44.04. Campbell Mason was seventh in the 500 freestyle in 5:44.16, Decker seventh in the 50 freestyle in 23.97 seconds and Ryan Miller fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.44. Decker was also sixth in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.43 and Nicolas Rincon seventh in 1:01.66.
Southmont’s Trent Jones overtook Callejas in the 100 butterfly for his first career sectional title in a time of 53.62 seconds.
“With the guy in the lane beside me, I see what my competition is,” Jones said. “I see what I need to beat. It’s basically like seeing the clock right next to me. So seeing him in the lane next to me pushed me the extra mile. In the last 25 in my mind I was like this is it, this is what I’ve worked all season for and I just gave it all I had. It shows that all the hard work has paid off.”
Led by Jones, Southmont coach Jane Coudret said it was a great day for the Mounties, who swam to top-eight finishes in all three relays.
“Overall it was a great meet for us,” she said. “He (Jones) has put in the work, and it was just awesome to see what he was able to do today in such a close race. We are pretty excited for him.”
Jones was also second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.33 seconds. Logan Harman placed seventh in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:20.34 and sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.54. John Servies was eighth in the 200 freestyle in 2:09.77 and eighth in the 500 freestyle in 5:52.13.
Servies, Harman, and Jones teamed up with Eyan Endicott to place fifth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:55.26, while Endicott, Harman, and Jones joined Aaron Evans in the 200 freestyle relay to place fourth in 1:41.82. Servies, Evans, and Endicott joined Mason Cass with an eighth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:25.17.
Jamason Burget led North Montgomery with a pair of third-place finishes. Burget swam lifetime bests in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:15.06 and an effort of 1:00.2 in the 100 backstroke.
“Jamason had a really good meet today,” North Montgomery coach Erin Yeager said. “Dropped time in both of his events, and to get those lifetime best times is a big deal for him.”
North Montgomery’s relay team of Ben Eldridge, Landon Birge, Matthew Southwood, and Burget placed eighth with a time of 1:52.69 in the 200 freestyle relay.
Fountain Central’s medley relay team of Noah Fruits, Hayden Kler, Dylan Songer, and Eli Davis placed seventh in the 200 medley realy with a time of 2:06.39, while Chase Witsman, Fruits, Davis, and Riley Nelson placed third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:38.96. Neslon, Songer, Davis, and Witsman also placed third in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:46.72.
Nelson placed second in the 200 freestyle in 1:56.51 and third in the 500 freestyle in 5:32.63. Witsman was third in the 50 freestyle in 22.5 seconds and fourth in the 100 freestyle in 51.55 seconds. Fruits placed fifth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.12 seconds and sixth in the 200 individual medley in 2:17.95.
