The girls swimming and diving state meet begins Friday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. An event-by-event look at how the local entrants stack up against the rest of the state:
200 medley relay
Top overall seed: Carmel (1:42.40)
Local qualifiers: Franklin (seventh, 1:44.91); Greenwood (13th, 1:47.87)
Outlook: The Greyhounds have proven to be virtually unbeatable in this event, winning it the last 12 years and 30 of the last 34. That’s unlikely to change, but both county teams are in strong position to score points and Franklin a contender for a top-three spot. Three of the Grizzly Cubs’ four swimmers in this race — Allie Lacy, Kabria Chapman and Gracey Payne — weren’t fully tapered last week, so all three could be primed to drop even more time.
200 freestyle
Top overall seed: Kristina Paegle, Bloomington South (1:47.74)
Local qualifiers: Paige Lawrence, Franklin (14th, 1:53.55); Lara Phipps, Center Grove (17th, 1:54.09); Addison Daily, Whiteland (25th, 1:55.63)
Outlook: One of the more loaded races of the meet, with last year’s top three finishers (Paegle, Gretchen Lueking of Carmel and Mary Catherine Pruitt of South Bend St. Joe) all back in it. Dropping enough time to reach the podium could be a stretch for the three county entrants, but any of the three could conceivably make it into Saturday’s consolation final.
200 individual medley
Top overall seed: Devon Kitchel, Zionsville (2:00.42)
Local qualifiers: Lacy, Franklin (seventh, 2:04.76); Alayna Kenworthy, Greenwood (12th, 2:06.54)
Outlook: Lacy, who was 10th last year, may not be able to challenge reigning champion Kitchel or Carmel stars MacKenna Lieske and Madelyn Christman at the top, but the sophomore has positioned herself well to finish solidly in the top eight. Kenworthy was 23rd last year after swimming well off of her sectional time; if she can match it this year, she’ll score points.
50 freestyle
Top overall seed: Meghan Christman, Carmel (22.81)
Local qualifier: Payne, Franklin (10th, 23.83)
Outlook: Christman, last year’s runner-up, appears to be a solid favorite, with only teammate Colleen Duffy within half a second of her last weekend. But the 50 is a crapshoot, and there’s no accounting for who might have more left in the tank. Payne has been one of the state’s top sprinters since her freshman year, tying for third in the 50 as a sophomore, and she’s eager to go out in a blaze of glory. In a race where every hundredth of a second counts, the potential is there for her to crack the top three again.
Diving
Top overall seed: Mia Prusiecki, Center Grove (504.25 regional score)
Other local qualifiers: Ella Taylor, Indian Creek (eighth, 434.05); Camy Quiggins, Franklin (17th, 380.30)
Outlook: Prusiecki took her sectional dominance to another level at Tuesday’s Jasper Regional, rolling to victory by 69.05 points over runner-up Taylor. The freshman scored 28.8 points higher than the next-best diver statewide, Northridge’s Jiselle Miller. Can she turn in a repeat performance on Saturday and win? Taylor could contend for a podium spot as well, and Quiggins has a chance to pick up what could be some pretty important points for Franklin.
100 butterfly
Top overall seed: Kitchel, Zionsville (54.06)
Local qualifier: Grace Nuhfer, Greenwood (21st, 57.63)
Outlook: Kitchel returns to defend her crown in the fly as well, though she figures to face stiff challenges from the likes of Fort Wayne Carroll’s Teagen Moon, who was second last winter, and Lueking, who slides into this event for the first time. Nuhfer, 12th last year, would like to close out her career with a podium finish; to do so, she’ll need to show that she’s got another gear after narrowly escaping a sectional elimination.
100 freestyle
Top overall seed: Paegle, Bloomington South (49.93)
Local qualifiers: Payne, Franklin (T-seventh, 51.19); Daily, Whiteland (17th, 52.70)
Outlook: Though the field is crowded at the top with Paegle, Meghan Christman and 2019 champ Emma Wright of Hobart all returning top-four finishers, Payne has an opportunity to climb the ladder after consecutive ninth-place finishes in this event. Daily, meanwhile, could easily make her way into the top 16 with a solid performance; this might represent the best chance for the Warriors to score this weekend.
500 freestyle
Top overall seed: Pruitt, South Bend St. Joseph (4:50.84)
Local qualifier: Lawrence, Franklin (12th, 5:04.62)
Outlook: Grizzly Cub Sarah Hoffman finished third out of the 12 seed last year, and while Lawrence might not have an eight-second time drop in her this week, she’s hoping to at least get back to Saturday and score some points. If that’s in the championship final, even better, but that’ll likely require breaking the five-minute mark. Pruitt won by 7.7 seconds last year and is a heavy favorite to win yet again, though likely not by quite as much.
200 freestyle relay
Top overall seed: Hamilton Southeastern (1:34.34)
Local qualifiers: Franklin (12th, 1:37.91); Center Grove (13th, 1:38.48); Whiteland (19th, 1:39.74)
Outlook: With the possible exception of the 50 free, this event may be the biggest crapshoot of the weekend, especially in Friday’s prelims. The top four seeds are all within six tenths of a second of one another, and less than 3.6 seconds separate first from 12th. The jockeying for position in the championship and consolation finals will be fierce — and play a big part in determining the order of the team standings, where a logjam behind Carmel is again likely. Can Franklin and/or Center Grove move into the top eight tonight?
100 backstroke
Top overall seed: Mya DeWitt, Fort Wayne Carroll (53.87)
Local qualifiers: Lacy, Franklin (ninth, 56.45); Grace DeLuna, Center Grove (12th, 56.74)
Outlook: The race for first should be a heated one; defending champ Berit Berglund of Carmel was just .02 seconds behind DeWitt’s sectional time, setting up a rematch between last year’s clear top two. Lacy hopes to jump from 18th last year up into the top eight, and she and DeLuna are both in a strong position to score points — after an exciting sectional showdown, they’ll be side by side in tonight’s preliminary heat as well.
100 breaststroke
Top overall seed: Maggie Love, Carmel (1:01.60)
Local qualifier: Chapman, Franklin (T-sixth, 1:02.99)
Outlook: Actually, forget the 200 freestyle — this might be the event most worth watching. All of last year’s top five finishers, including champion Sammy Huff of Noblesville and runner-up Chapman, are back in the field along with an elite freshman in Penn’s Lilian Christianson. Anybody from that group is capable of emerging as the winner, and it’ll likely be a photo finish no matter who it is.
400 freestyle relay
Top overall seed: Carmel (3:26.52)
Local qualifiers: Franklin (ninth, 3:33.09); Center Grove (15th, 3:34.65); Greenwood (22nd, 3:39.46); Whiteland (23rd, 3:39.63)
Outlook: The battle for position in the top eight Friday will again be critical, and Franklin sits right on the fence. Moving up one spot would be massively important, especially given how close the overall standings should still be at this point in the meet. Center Grove could also figure in the scoring here; the Woodmen and Warriors would need to drop close to three seconds just to move up from their seed at all — but if that’s possible in any event, it’s this one. By the way, it speaks volumes about the quality of the Franklin Sectional that Whiteland finished fifth here and still advanced.
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IHSAA State Finals
At IU Natatorium
Friday
Swimming preliminaries, noon and 5:30 p.m.
Saturday
Diving preliminaries and finals, 9 a.m.
Swimming finals, 3:30 p.m.
Attendance:Â No spectators will be admitted.
Webcast:Â Available at IHSAATV.org ($9.95 for today’s preliminaries only, $14.95 for both days)
