A season ago, despite winning 9 of the 11 events the Crawfordsville boys swimming and diving team fell short of a Sagamore Conference title due to lack of depth with the team as some key guys were forced to miss the meet.
This season the Athenians are hungry to re-claim the conference crown which has alluded them the past two seasons after back-to-back second place finishes.
“We are in a very good spot so we just need to take care of our business,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Hedrick said. “You have to take it one race at a time. If we do both of those thins I think we’ll give ourselves a chance on Saturday.”
The Athenians while they do have some veterans on their team led by seniors such as Alyx Bannon, and Ella Hudson have featured a very young yet talented squad with a total of eight freshman. Sophia Melevage, Ellie Walker, Guinevere Schmitzer-Torbert just to name a few.
With the conference meet, Hedrick hopes this will get his young girls team a chance to experience a big-time high stakes meet.
“Our ladies are progressing very nicely and our Divers especially will be giving us a much needed boost,” he said. “We just need to experience a championship style meet so that we are better prepared for the Sectional in a few weeks.”
Both Crawfordsville teams look to be in the mix for a conference title and Hedrick knows how big Saturday will be for both his teams.
“Conference titles are always a big deal,” he said. “We love competing in the SAC and know it will be a very competitive meet.”
The Chargers last season placed third on the girls side and while losing key seniors, still have some returning talent. Maggie Michael, Annabel Anderson, Sydnee Turner, and Gracen Schwabe all are seniors for the Chargers as they look to begin the final push to the end of the season.
“Conference is the start of the championship season for the girls,” North Montgomery coach Erin Yeager said. “They want to be swimming well, at or near those lifetime bests from the last championship season. They start to work on their meet routine for a championship meet. I’m excited to see where we are at and ready for them to step up and swim fast.”
On the other side for the Chargers, the boys are a young team and have progressed nicely throughout the season according to Yeager. She talked about the meet and environment on Saturday being a first for some of the team.
“We will learn and practice their routine while also dealing with how to deal with the jitters that come with a big meet like this,” she said. “They’ve continually been working hard all year so I’m excited to see how they do.”
Lifetime bests have always been a focus for Yeager as she gets her team prepared for any meet. Saturday will be another chance for all of the Charger swimmers to go out and do just that.
“Conference is an opportunity to suit up and swim fast,” Yeager said. It is a chance for the swimmers to really challenge themselves and take in the “big meet” atmosphere. Conference is like a stepping stone into sectionals. A chance to see what we need to alter when “big meet” nerves come into play.”
The Mounties last season placed sixth on the boys side while the Lady Mounties earned a fourth place finish.
Southmont coach Jane Coudret talked about competing on the big conference stage once again.
“We are looking forward to competing against our conference teams,” she said. “This season has presented some challenges but we have been working though those and I’m ready to see what we can do.”
On the boys side Southmont has had to deal a combination of injuries and illness throughout the season. Senior and leader of the boys team Trent Jones was unavailable for the county meet earlier this season. Coudret believes all of that is behind her boys team as they are ready to move forward into the final month of the season.
“We’ve had some illness and injuries to overcome with our boys team and it’s been difficult at times,” she said. “I’m hoping we have that all behind us and we can move forward as we prepare for the end of the season meets.”
The Lady Mounties do have depth on their side with a roster that features 11 juniors and two seniors. With sectionals even closer for them, Coudret will be closing watching and evaluating her team to make sure they are set come the post-season.
“Between this meet and our last few dual meets, I will be making sure we will have our best line-up for the sectional meet,” she said.
The divers will get things started in the morning at Crawfordsville High School. After a little break, the girls will then begin their half of the meet. At the conclusion of the girls portion, there will be another break to allow the boys to then begin to warm up for their half of the meet.
