Although they didn’t come away with any sectional champions on Saturday, the Columbus North and Columbus East girls swimmers didn’t come away empty-handed.
The Bull Frogs achieved state-cut times in five events, and the Olympians’ Becca Bryan finished second in the diving competition to advance to Tuesday’s Bloomington North Diving Regional. Meanwhile, Trinity Lutheran freshman Rachel Sabotin qualified for state in two events in her first postseason competition.
A few other local swimmers will have to wait until today when the state heat sheets are released to find out if they earned call-backs for Friday’s state prelims at IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium. The state finals and consolations are Saturday.
Columbus North finished third and East fourth in the team standings. Bloomington South won with 499 points to 360 for Bloomington North, 355 for the Bull Frogs and 202 for the Olympians.
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Bull Frogs senior Darby Coles qualified with a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (24.07 seconds) and a second in 100 freestyle (51.56).
“I’m really excited about it,” Coles said. “Knowing that I made it not by winning but actually making the cut makes it even better, knowing that I earned it. It makes it really sweet, and I’m looking forward to next weekend.”
Another senior, Alex Nusawardhana, will make a return trip to state in the 100 backstroke. She finished second in 57.81, just 8-hundreths of a second under the state-cut time.
“It was definitely nerve-racking, especially after just swimming the 200 free relay,” Nusawardhana said. “But I just had to tell myself, ‘Go out there, give it your all,’ and honestly, I was happy with where I was today.”
Coles and Nusawardhana also made it in a pair of relays. They teamed with freshmen Olivia Morlok and Betsy King to finish second in both the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.09) and 400 freestyle relay (3:33.88).
“It was a great team performance,” North coach Logan Schaefer said. “The girls earned every one of those swims. The team has a large part in helping each one of those girls get to that (state) meet.”
Sabotin won the 200 freestyle. (1:53.83) and finished second in the 500 freestyle (5:01.45). She achieved the state-cut time in the 500.
Sabotin lives in Columbus and trains with the Trinity team at Northside Middle School.
“It’s awesome,” Sabotin said. “I’m just excited to see what I’ll be able to do next weekend at state.”
Bryan led East with a second-place diving finish with a season-best 327.80 points. This is the senior’s first year competing as a diver.
“Personally, it felt like an average meet,” Bryan said. “I know I can do a lot better. I’m not disappointed with it, but I know there’s more from me out there.”
The Olympians did set two school records Saturday. Senior Cortney VanLiew broke a 34-year-old record with a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle with a 53.43.
In the 200 freestyle relay, freshman Jennifer Utterback, juniors Lizzy Frazier and Whitley Eicher, along with VanLiew, broke a 23-year-old record with a third-place finish in 1:40.63.
“They swam better than expected,” East coach Jill Arnholt said. “I knew that they were going to do well. They dropped time today and just came through for us.”
