Center Grove’s Mia Prusiecki performs a dive on her way to a sectional championship Saturday.
Sam Findley | For the Daily Journal
Often on an island during national and international diving competitions, Center Grove’s Mia Prusiecki enjoys the camaraderie and team spirit that comes with the high school season.
On Saturday, she gave her team an early leg up in its quest for its first sectional title since 2015.
Prusiecki, the state runner-up as a freshman last winter, finished with a total score of 492.45 to win the 1-meter crown for a second consecutive year.
Overall, the Trojans positioned themselves well to end Franklin’s six-year run as sectional champion, moving 20 of a maximum 24 possible individual swimmers out of the preliminary heats and into today’s 6 p.m. championship finals, compared with 18 for the Grizzly Cubs.
Going into Monday with a 22-point advantage on diving points certainly doesn’t hurt Center Grove’s cause.
Prusiecki stayed on top essentially throughout, leading Indian Creek’s Ella Taylor 228.25 to 208.95 after the fifth of 11 rounds and 354.50 to 338.85 after the eighth.
“I was pretty pleased,” Prusiecki said of her performance. “I think I could have had some better dives, but for sure I’m happy with the results.”
Taylor, who came close to eclipsing her own school record, was happy after improving her sectional score from 406.65 last sesason to 461.95 this time around.
“I’m excited that I grew more from last year,” Taylor said. “I’m just super excited to go to regionals, because it’s a really fun experience.”
Once again joining Prusiecki and Taylor at Tuesday’s Jasper Regional will be Franklin sophomore Camy Quiggins, who finished fourth Saturday with a score of 385.90.
“I kind of struggled, I’m not going to lie,” Quiggins said. “But my goal for today was just to get through and advance to regionals. I want to save the good stuff for regionals and state.”
On the swim side Saturday, Center Grove was led by sophomore Lara Phipps, who goes into this evening as the top seed in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Teammate Lexi Stuart had the top prelim time in the 50 freestyle, and the Trojans had the fastest 200 and 400 freestyle relay times as well.
Earning those Lane 4 positions tonight for Franklin were junior Allie Lacy (200 IM, 100 backstroke), freshman Lili Ratzlaff (100 freestyle) and senior Paige Lawrence (500 free).
Greenwood filled 12 individual spots in championship finals, while Greenwood Christian’s Sarah Ziegler and Whiteland’s Amelia Edens each secured two for their respective teams.
