There was plenty of excitement inside the Crawfordsville pool on Saturday as all three Montgomery County swim and dive teams competed in the 2023 Sagamore Conference Championships. Crawfordsville came in as the defending champion on the boys side but the 2023 title belonged to Lebanon as the Tigers scored 378 points to claim the title. The Athenian boys took second scoring 353 points with North Montgomery placing sixth and Southmont eighth.
On the girls side the Crawfordsville also took second finishing behind Western Boone who earned their second straight SAC title with 420 points to the Athenians 353. North Montgomery girls had a very strong showing taking third with 315.5 points while the Mounties scored 166.5 for a seventh place finish.
Crawfordsville junior Whitman Horton had himself quite the afternoon as in th e 100 backstroke he was named the SAC champion with a time of 50.88. That time broke the conference, pool, and school record that had been held by Josh Mikesell all the way back in 1988.
“Whit is just hyper-focused and is very goal-oriented,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick said of Horton. “If you look at his skill, his technique and just the way he prepares for races, he’s just on overall gem and we’re very blessed to have him. He’s devoted to the sport and his goals set very high for himself. He probably put up two top eight times in the state today with his performance in the IM and the backstroke.”
Crawfordsville took home wins in the girls and boys 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly from Sophia Melevage, 200 IM and 100 back from Horton, 500 freestyle from Marie Hesler and Campbell Mason, 100 breaststroke from Guinevere Schmitzer-Torbert, and rounded out the day with a win in the boys 400 freestyle relay.
“Overall it was a very good meet for us,” Hedrick added. “We’re still very young on both sides and to come out and place second is outstanding. We don’t have the greatest numbers on the girls side but their performance is a testament to how hard they work. Getting some diving sorted out will be our biggest thing as we move forward.”
North Montgomery got strong performances from the likes of Kyle Sankey who took second in the 200 freestyle, and third in the 500 freestyle. Their 200 medley relay team and 400 freestyle relay teams took second and third respectively. Dusty Robinson took third the 200 IM while Brooklyn Kerns took second in the 100 butterfly. Jamason Burget took third place in the 100 backstroke for the Charger boys.
“We had time drops all over the place and they swam their brains out,” Charger coach Erin Yeager said. “I was excited to see our girls swim outstanding and for them to get third today was awesome. We had swimmers step up when they needed and there was just so many positive things to take away from today.”
For the Chargers and Yeager it gave them a chance to swim on another big meet stage. The season is now in its home stretch with the sectional for the girls coming in just a few weeks.
“We were able to get some of those big meet jitters out of the way today too” Yeager added. “That’s only going to help us as we move towards and prepare for the sectional Our 200 medley girls team was within two-tenths of breaking the school record so you can see we’re getting there and I’m excited to see where we’re going to finish out this season.”
Southmont got a second place finish in diving from Emily Smith who ended with a score of 282.50. Faith Allen also took seventh overall in the girls 100 backstroke. First year coach Dan McCormick noted how there was plenty to proud of.
“The whole season our coaching staff has been preaching to our team to give us their best effort,” he said. “Really honing them in on the big moments like this is important to us and nearly everyone who swam today had a season or lifetime best. That’s the biggest thing that we’re taking away from today.”
