The Crawfordsville swimming and diving team had plenty to celebrate Saturday. At the 2021 Montgomery County meet, the Athenians swept the county crown as the boys cruised to their eighth straight title, while the girls re-gained the county crown for the first time since 2018.
Crawfordsville dominated the pool as the boys won 11 of the 12 events while the girls won all 12. The Athenian boys scored 291 points while North Montgomery finished in second with 109, and Southmont recorded 89. While the CHS girls won all 12 races, the scores between the three county schools were fairly close with the Athenians securing 242 points. Southmont girls placed second with 217 and North Montgomery just behind them with 202.
Three county records fell for the Crawfordsville boys as the tandem of Whitman and Marshall Horton, Evan Chaney and Tristan Callejas swam a 1:38.40 breaking the previous mark of 1:40.99 which was set in 1999. The Hortons each also broke a county record individually as Marshall recorded a time of 48.35 in the 100 freestyle while Whitman swam a 53.11 in the 100 backstroke.
“All of the boys are just really rock solid right now,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick said. “We’re very blessed to have enough kids to fill out all the events. Breaking those records especially in the 200 medley was a very special accomplishment for those guys.”
Hedrick added that on the girls side he was able to mix his lineups with the versatility that his girls possess. Crawfordsville had another strong showing from their freshman class including Sophia Melevage, Ellie Walker and Guinevere Schmitzer-Torbert.
“They’ve been strong all year and came into today with a ton of confidence,” Hedrick said of his freshman. “They gave me permission to change some relays up. It was one of those things where almost everything had to go right. Our divers placed one, two and four to give us a lot of points there as well.”
The Charger boys who are still a young team, got some valuable experience at the county meet coach Erin Yeager said.
“They really did swim well today,” she said. “We had a ton of time drops which is what we needed from them. They were doing the things that they needed to do. We’re going to use this to just keep rolling through the rest of the season.”
For the Charger girls, Annabel Anderson, Brooklyn Kerns and Maggie Michael highlighted the day by earning multiple second place finishes. Knowing how tight the competition on the girls side was going to be, Yeager was pleased with time drops overall.
“We still needed some other time drops in other areas, but overall we had some girls that swam outstanding,” she said. “It’s a process of getting everyone to swim their best at the same time, but as a coach, you celebrate the victories and work your way through the things that aren’t where you want them.”
Tyler Petroski was the winner in boys diving for Southmont as he scored a season best 158.30. Mountie coach Jane Coudret said her boys squad is still finding their way.
“It was great to see Tyler score his season best by about 10 points or so,” she said. “We have some kids who are coming along like Hunter Gray in the 500. We try to work on a lot of things to help them as much as we can.”
Bailey Barker had a pair of second place finished in the 200 freestyle and 100 breastroke for the Mountie girls. Faith Allen placed third in the 100 backstroke.
“The girls are a really great group to work with and are really working hard,” Coudret said of her girls team. “They are all dedicated and willing to swim in many different events.”
The Athenians, who look to be poised for success on both the boys and girls sides, are looking to carry this momentum into their next big meets — conference and sectional.
“You always hope to be in a situation like this,” Hedrick said. “The kids know that after break we’re going to be pushing them real hard. A performance like we had today puts us in a good frame of mind heading into the holidays and also knowing that the hard work they’ve put in is starting to pay off.”
Crawfordsville will be back in the pool Jan. 6 as they host Danville and Frankfort in preparation for the Sagamore Conference meet on Jan. 13-15. Southmont will travel to Lebanon on Jan. 6 while the Chargers will travel to North Putnam the same day before hosting South Putnam on Jan. 11.
