If the last three days are any indication, the future of swimming in Johnson County is extremely bright.
Locals collected some serious hardware during the Indiana Swimming Age Group State Championships, which concluded Sunday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Swimmers from Center Grove Aquatic Club and Franklin Regional Swim Team combined to win six individual titles and two relays, with county swimmers earning several other medals.
Aleksandr Ries of FRST won age 13-14 championships in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events and the 200 and 400 individual medleys, while also finishing second in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
FRST’s 11-12 medley relay team of Lucas Stephon, Braylon O’Leary, Oliver Inabnit and Trevor Smith brought home gold, edging runner-up Center Grove by .05 seconds. That same quartet came back Sunday and held off Zionsville to win the 200 freestyle relay as well.
Center Grove’s Matthew Cuadros stood atop the podium after wins in the 11-12 50 and 100 breaststroke; Cuadros won six individual medals in all, including second in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 freestyle, and he joined Jayden Xia, Hudson Willhelm and Ayan Raghavendra on the runner-up medley relay. Xia finished third in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 50 fly, collecting three individual medals in all.
Savannah Jahnke won six 11-12 medals on the girls side for CGAC, taking third in the 50 free, fourth in both the 100 free and 100 breast and fifth in the 50 backstroke. Camron Mazdai earned a pair of 13-14 medals, finishing third in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 100 freestyle.
Jovie Mowrey earned three medals in 13-14 girls events for FRST, topped by a third-place showing in the 200 backstroke. Stephon collected four individual medals in addition to his relay golds, including fifth-place efforts in the 50 and 100 backstrokes; O’Leary was third in the 50 breaststroke. Franklin also got strong overall weekends from Quinn Zarse (54 points in 10-and-under events) and Inabnit (42 points).
Center Grove Aquatic Club finished eighth in the overall team standings with 508 points; Franklin Regional Swim Team was ninth with 499 points.
