Columbus East got off to a solid start Tuesday when it won the first event of the evening, the girls 200-yard medley relay.
After that, it was just about all Columbus North. The Bull Frogs won all 12 boys events to post a 167-54 victory and nine of the remaining 11 girls events to claim a 134-87 triumph.
“We lost to Center Grove by a little bit, so for us to get out there and get back on top of our game felt great,” said Alex Nusawardhana, who was one of three double winners for the North girls.
Nusawardhana won the 200-yard freestyle (2 minutes, 1.52 seconds) and 100 butterfly (1:00.49), Darby Coles took the 200 individual medley (2:16.09) and 500 freestyle (5:18.11) and Betsy King captured the 50 freestyle (24.72) and 100 freestyle (54.82).
Erica Samuel added a victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.26). The Bull Frogs also took the 200 freestyle (1:41.49) and 400 freestyle (3:43.27) relays.
“I think for a rebuilding year, we are rebuilding very, very well,” Coles said. “Even out of the water, we are a great team, and it helps us so much better in the water.”
The Olympians picked up a win from Becca Bryan in the diving competition (172.45 points). Sisters Annie and Lizzy Frazier went 1-2 in the 100 backstroke in 1:08.22 and 1:11.43.
East’s 200 medley relay win came in a time of 2:00.19.
“I have a lot of young swimmers that are really anxious and very nervous, and they’re all so intense,” East girls coach Jill Arnholt said. “We’re trying to get so they can keep swimming intense and swimming fast, but not be so nervous and have a good time.”
In the boys meet, Nicholas Green won the 200 freestyle (1:52.12) and 100 butterfly (56.64), and Sam Russell took the 50 freestyle (23.49) and 100 freestyle (50.91) to lead North.
Other individual winners for the Bull Frogs were Evan Patterson in the 200 IM (2:09.00), Kaemon Jiles in diving (247.05), Thomas Goble in the 500 freestyle (5:10.13), Paco Cena Zavala in the 100 backstroke (1:02.42) and Jackson Nagel in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.15). North swept the 200 medley (1:48.36), 200 freestyle (1:33.24) and 400 freestyle (3:31.26) relays.
“We have all have been putting in a bunch of hard work, and it’s fun to watch it pay off in the water,” Russell said. “(Logan Schaefer is) a great coach who really pushes us all. We never really go into a meet being rested, but I feel like that team brings the positivity out from practice and puts it back in the water.”
The top finishes for the Olympians were third-place efforts from Austin Smith in the 50 freestyle (24.62) and 100 breaststroke (1:11.23), Cody Miller in diving (210.95), Chris Borowski in the 500 freestyle (5:36.14) and Austin Guse in the 100 backstroke (1:07.56).
Still, East boys coach Dave Fribley was encouraged.
“We had a lot of personal bests from the young kids, and that’s what we’re trying to focus on right now — to get them to have continued improvements so that will encourage them to keep going after it in practice,” Fribley said.
