Columbus North recorded several personal-best times in its swimming meet against Franklin on Tuesday, but the Grizzly Cubs proved to be a little better.
The boys meet was close, but Franklin was able to pick up more second- and third-place finishes to give the Bull Frogs a 99-87 defeat. The North girls fell 132-54.
The Bull Frogs, though, never gave an inch as they finished strong, winning in both of the 400-yard freestyle relays. Grace Haskett, Alex Nusawardhana, Mackenzie Fry and Darby Coles captured first for the girls in 3 minutes, 29.64 seconds. Chase McQueen, Jared Imlay, Sam Russell and Ben Thompson finished first for the boys in 3:25.89.
The strong finish pleased first-year North coach Bridger Bell.
“It was great we could finish out on a high note in winning the relays,” Bell said. “Overall, we have some great performances across the board. Some of them even dropped times from (Monday) night (at Jennings County).
Bell had to shuffle his lineup in the girls meet since he was shorthanded with some girls being out due to illness.
“We did not have very many available to us tonight, so we were struggling just to fill our lineup,” Bell said. “We put forth a strong lineup for the boys, but (Franklin) just swam better than us.”
In the girls meet, Haskett picked up individual victories in the 50 freestyle (23.92) and 100 backstroke (57.80) for the Bull Frogs. Coles finished second in the 100 freestyle (54.24).
On the boys side, McQueen captured the 200 individual medley (1:59.22) and 500 freestyle (5:00.29). Kaemon Jiles won the diving competition (258.65), and Angel Torres Martinez took the 100 butterfly (55.30) and finished second in the 100 backstroke (1:00.32).
Russell took second in the 200 freestyle (1:52.82). Imlay was second in the 50 freestyle (23.30) and 100 freestyle (51.12).
Even in the loss, Bell plans to get everyone swimming at their best at the end of the season.
“We are starting to ramp up our training now, and we are full on with the lifting and the swimming,” Bell said. “We like a challenge. We have the attitude that challenges are good for us. The harder the challenge, the better it is. At the end of the season, we will expect some time drops.”
