Center Grove girls win sectional swimming and diving title

A year ago, Center Grove had to hold on for dear life to end Franklin’s run of sectional championships, winning the meet by a slim eight-point margin.

The Trojans were able to breathe much easier on Saturday.

Paced by a dominating effort from junior Lara Phipps, superior depth and a big edge in diving, Center Grove cruised to its second straight title by outpointing the host Grizzly Cubs, 516 to 386, at the Franklin Sectional.

“(Former Center Grove coach Jim Todd) laid a great foundation, and I just didn’t want to screw it up,” first-year Trojans coach Brad Smith said. “I know we’ve been arguably the favorite most of the year, just because of our depth; we have great depth. I’m not sure we necessarily had the exact day we wanted, but we still swam really, really well, and I couldn’t be more proud of these girls.”

Phipps finished first in both the 200-yard individual medley (2:04.55) and the 100 butterfly (56.17) while also helping the Trojans win both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. The 200 group of Lexi Stuart, Grace Clarkston, Tenley Wilkins and Phipps hit the wall with a pool-record time of 1:36.27; the 400 quartet of Stuart, Clara Brandon, Wilkins and Phipps coasted to first in 3:34.74.

“For me, this wasn’t a fully tapered meet, so I still have a little bit left in the tank,” Phipps said. “Being able to go those times without being fully tapered or shaved really sets my expectations high for state.”

Center Grove’s other individual victories came from junior diver Mia Prusiecki, who established a new pool standard with her score of 520.95, and Kayla Fischer, who finished first in the 500 free (5:18.38).

The Grizzly Cubs, meanwhile, were led by Lili Ratzlaff, who took the 200 freestyle in a pool-record 1:50.80 and the 100 free in 52.07. The sophomore also joined Jovie Mowrey, Jenna Miller and Kathleen Lacy on the 200 free relay team, which finished second in 1:37.61 to earn an at-large spot in the state meet.

Ratzlaff said that Franklin’s 400 free relay team being disqualified during Thursday’s preliminaries lit a fire in her that hadn’t been there for a little while.

“We were talking a lot about adversity since Thursday and how to come back from what had happened,” she said. “It just fired me up even more than I’ve probably ever been — even more than last year, with Lara beating me in the 200 (freestyle) at prelims. … I haven’t been the most focused this past season, but I know I can do something special at state, and I’m ready for it.”

Franklin’s medley relay quartet of Allie Lacy, Kathleen Lacy, Jaynie Salyers and Miller rolled to victory with a time of 1:47.39. (The Trojans’ team of Grace Clarkston, Laney Brooks, Kayla Fischer and Addyson Matern picked up an at-large berth with its second-place time of 1:50.73.)

Allie Lacy won the 100 backstroke in 57.02 seconds, and her runner-up time of 2:06.47 in the IM was also good enough to qualify for state. Freshman teammate Mowrey finished one spot behind Lacy in the backstroke at 58.45 seconds and also earned an at-large spot. Kathleen Lacy advanced in the 100 breaststroke with her runner-up time of 1:05.86.

Two other county divers, Indian Creek’s Ella Taylor (467.05) and Franklin’s Camy Quiggins (419.20), joined Prusiecki in qualifying for Tuesday’s regional at Jasper.

Greenwood finished fourth in the team standings with 212.5 points and Whiteland was fifth with 194, though neither team advanced swimmers to the state meet. Indian Creek was ninth with 17 points, all courtesy of Taylor.

With Franklin’s relay disqualification essentially taking any potential drama out of the overall team title chase, Phipps said her team was able to swim with a little bit less stress on Saturday.

“The individual pressure is still there, but as a team, knowing that we have a really good shot at winning, the energy just goes up a lot,” she said. “Taking that pressure off of the team allows us to have a lot of fun.”

Celebrating a championship in your chief rival’s home pool makes for a fun afternoon, too.