It’s always the first big meet for all three Montgomery county swim teams. Saturday morning, North Montgomery, Southmont and Crawfordsville will all square off against each other at CHS for the 2022-23 county swim meet.
Crawfordsville comes in as the reigning county champions on both the boys and girls side as the boys look to continue their dominance with a ninth straight county title. The Lady Athenians re-gained the county crown for the first time since 2018 a season ago and look to make it two straight this season. The boys enter the county meet with a dual meet record of 4-2 while the girls enter at 5-1. Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick notes how his team is prepping for the big meet while also focusing on not putting too much pressure on themselves to perform.
“Our preparation involves a fine tuning of our skills and a more focused approach to staying engaged with our race strategy and planning,” he said. “We have been striving to make this meet a stepping stone along the journey to the sectional by staying positive and doing our very best. Everyone doing their best is one of the methods to reduce the stress that comes with competing for championships. So yes, there is pressure to perform at our best, but not about winning or losing.”
CHS has been propeled so far this season by the likes of Campbell Mason and Whitman Horton on the guys side while Sophia Melevage, and Guinivere Schmitzer-Torbert have been the leaders for the girls.
North Montgomey comes into the county meet rejuvinated and revitalized for this years meet. The girls habe impressed so far as they hold a record of 5-2 in their seven dual meets. Their two losses have come by a total of three points (98-97 to WeBo and 94-92 to Clinton Central).
The Chargers girls will look knock the Athenians off the top spot on the county totem poll and Charger coach Erin Yeager despite her team being fairly young, has loved where her team is heading into their first big meet of the season.
“My girls are a hard working, mostly younger bunch,” Yeager said. “They have been putting the work in practice, they challenge themselves and each other which I am excited to see how it continues as the season goes on. Overall I feel like both teams are in a good place, we have work to do, but we are making strides as the season goes on. I have been proud of the growth I have seen from many of my young inexperienced swimmers. County will be a good way for them to test out what we have learned this season.”
It’s been a collective effort for the Charger girls this season as plenty of girls help lead the team. Annabel Anderson, Cascie Keller, Brooklyn Kerns, and Ava Mershon are just a few of the Charger girls that are seeing a successful start to their seasons.
Southmont will be looking to get back on top of the county swimming scene as the girls most recently captured a county crown back in 2020. The Mounties are under first year co-coaches Mercedes McCormick and Dan McCormick.
Both Mountie teams are coming off of victories on Tuesday as they swept Seeger in the pool. Seniors Faith Allen and Elle Gray help anchor the girls team while Tyler Petroski, Mason Cass, and Aaron Evans along with Hunter Gray help anchor the boys.
The county meet begins at 10 am at Crawfordsville.
