The Columbus North boys swimmers sent one individual swimmer and one relay team to state and saw one diver advance to the regional with wins in Saturday’s North Sectional.
The Bull Frogs almost had a chance of pulling off an upset over Bloomington South in the team standings, but the Panthers held on during the final stretch of races to capture the sectional title over runner-up North 496-450.
Columbus East placed fifth as team with a 147 points.
North senior swimmer Angel Torres Martinez will be making another state appearance after capturing the 50-yard freestyle in 22.10 seconds. He cut his time from 22.40 in Thursday’s preliminaries.
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“One key factor was motivation, with it pretty much being my last sectional meet,” Torres Martinez said. “It’s a step up from last year, with last year being a surprise for me, but this year I’m excited to get to state because state is such a great experience.”
North senior Kaemon Jiles qualified for Tuesday’s Bloomington North Diving Regional after he captured the championship with a score of 467.40.
“It’s exciting, but it is also a little sad that this is my last competition at my home pool,” Jiles said.
Jiles is hoping he can qualify for state.
“When it comes to regional competition, anything can happen,” he said. “The competition will be tougher.”
The Bull Frogs’ Jared Carroll, Evan Patterson, Adam Zhuang and Torres Martinez placed first in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:31.58. They finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:38.11) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:13.37).
It will be a waiting game to see if their second-place finishes are good enough to qualify for state.
“We have great performances in our relays,” North coach Logan Schaefer said. “We have the chance to get all three relays in. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
Matthew Stuckwisch of Trinity Lutheran placed fourth in 50 freestyle with a time of 22.73.
East had some dropped times individually. They finished sixth in the 200 medley relay (1:51.30) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.19) and came in eighth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:44.77).
“We lot a PRs, and it was a fantastic meet,” East coach Dave Fribley said. “We had a great meet Thursday, and usually, it is hard to follow on Saturday, but these kids responded well. We’re competing against club kids, and I have guys that come in and swim for four months because a lot of our guys do other sports. That is a testament to how hard these guys have worked in those four months.”
