Ecstatic
That’s how Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick described the emotions he was feeling following the Sagamore Conference meet on Saturday.
Despite being down to just a handful of swimmers, it didn’t stop the Athenian boys from dominating the competition.
Crawfordsville won nine of the 11 swimming events, but due to a lack of depth, finished second with 389 points, behind first-place Lebanon (421). Southmont was sixth and North Montgomery seventh. On the girls’ side, the Chargers were third, Southmont fourth and Crawfordsville seventh. Lebanon won the girls’ title with Western Boone placing second.
“Very proud of the guys,” Hedrick said. “They all came in and swam in spite of knowing what the team results were going to be. We are really happy to be where we are at now at conference. We miss our guys and girls who are at home today, but every team seems to be fighting that along with us, so we certainly understand that.”
The Athenians were without key guys, including Thristan Callejas and Evan Chaney. But others stepped up.
Marshall and Whitman Horton were name co-swimmers of the meet, with two individual wins and two relay titles apiece. Marshall won the 100 freestyle in a time of 47.99 seconds and the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.17, while Whitman Horton won the 100 butterfly in 53.59 seconds and the 100 backstroke in 53.54 seconds. Whitman and Marshall teamed up with Hunter Conrad and Joseph Sanchez to win the 200 medley relay in 1:43.53, while Marshall, Conrad, Ben Brown and Jack Pendleton won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.43, and Whitman, Sanchez, Brown, and Pendleton won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:28.64.
Conrad also won the 200 individual medley in 2:13.43 and was second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.1, while Pendleton won the 50 freestyle in 22.81 seconds and was second in the 100 freestyle in 50.78 seconds. Brown was fifth in both the 50 and 100 freestyle with times of 23.43 and 51.91 seconds respectively.
Airton Schu moved from the 200 and 500 freestyle to the 200 IM and 100 backstroke, placing eighth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:22.82 and fourth in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.71. Campbell Mason was eighth in the 200 freestyle in 2:12.4 and sixth in the 500 freestyle in 5:46.92, while Sanchez was seventh in the 200 freestyle in 2:06.06 and seventh in the 500 freestyle in 5:52.33.
Southmont’s Trent Jones took second in both the 50 freestyle in 22.86 seconds and the 100 butterfly in 55.1 seconds.
“He’s a lot more focused this season,” Southmont coach Jane Coudret said. “And he does a lot more planning in his mind about what he needs to do to improve.”
Logan Harman was sixth in the 200 individual medley in 2:22.03, while John Servies placed eighth in the 100 backstroke in 1:13. The 200 medley relay team of Services, Harman, Jones, and Eyan Endicott placed fourth in 1:57.81.
North Montgomery’s Jamason Burget placed fifth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:18.34, and third in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.03. James McClerkin was fourth in diving with a score of 202.4.
“We had a lot of time drops from the boys on the second swims today,” North Montgomery coach Erin Yeager said. “Which I was really proud of because several of them dropped time on Thursday to get here.”
On the girls’ side, North Montgomery won two events — with Sidney Campbell winning the 50 freestyle in 24.69 seconds and the foursome of Maggie Michael, Annabel Anderson and Kelsey Anderson, and Campbell won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:50.36.
“My girls team between the juniors and seniors, they bring a wealth of knowledge, they know how to be calm cool and collected, and they know how to do what they need to do on Thursday to set them up to swim well today,” Yeager said. “Great swims in our relays. All of our relays I was pleased with. Just great swims all around.”
Campbell was also second in the 100 freestyle in 54.54 seconds, while Annabel Anderson was fifth in the 100 butterfly in 1:13.8 and fifth in the 100 backstroke in 1:10.59. Kelsey Anderson was fifth in the 200 freestyle in 2:13.38 and fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:19, while Madelynn Mershon was sixth in the 50 freestyle in 27.77 seconds and sixth in the 100 freestyle in 1:02.93. Michael was third in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke in times of 2:27.82 and 1:07.22 respectively. Gracen Schwabe placed eighth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:25.28, while Sydnee Turner was seventh in the 100 butterfly in 1:16.62.
The foursome of Mershon, Kelsey Anderson, Turner and Schwabe placed third in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:12.52, while Michael, Annabel Anderson, Mershon, and Campbell placed second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:44.65.
Southmont’s Megan Scheidler had a strong day — winning the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:40.59 and was second in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.35. Diver Jordan Stanley won the diving portion with a mark of 338.05, while Emily Smith was third with a score of 280.15.
Bailey Barker was seventh in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:15.62 and fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:33.14. Adriana Smith was sixth in the 100 butterfly in 1:16.2, Marley Jones seventh in the 100 freestyle in 1:03.72, Cassidy Bowlin eighth in the 200 IM in 2:51.54, and Faith Allen eighth in the 100 backstroke in 1:13.17.
The foursome of Allen, Bowlin, Adriana Smith, and Mallory Murphy placed fourth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:16.37, while Emma Phillips, Barker, Jones, and Scheidler were fourth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.37.
Crawfordsville’s Alyx Bannon was runner-up in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.72 seconds, behind North’s Campbell, but the junior earned redemption with a win in the 100 freestyle in 54.05 seconds. Ella Hudson placed fourth for the Athenians in diving.
“That was three hundredths off of Alyx’s lifetime best and we had already had that conversation how articulate we were going to have to be and precise on the race to get to that time again and to do that at conference, two weeks ahead of section is huge for the confidence boost. And she needed it.”
