Sprinters just miss records in prelims

The 50-yard freestyle is high school swimming’s premier sprint event, and in Thursday’s Columbus North Boys Swimming sectional preliminaries, two local juniors came within an eyelash of their school records.

North’s Christopher Lee swam the fastest qualifying time to Saturday’s finals, a 20.81-second clocking, just missing the school and sectional record of 20.64. Columbus East’s Chad Kelly qualified seventh in 22.52, just two-tenths off the Olympians record of 22.32.

Lee, who swam a personal best by six-tenths of a second, and Kelly, will take another aim at the records in Saturday’s finals.

"Behind the blocks, I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I feel really good today,’" Lee said. "Then, I thought to myself, ‘I almost feel good enough to do something special today, almost good enough to break that record.’ Then I thought, ‘If you really do feel that way, why not prove it?’ So that’s what I tried to do, and unfortunately, I fell a little short. But it sets up exciting things for Saturday."

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Lee also qualified third in the 100 backstroke (55.33), and although he did not swim on any of the Bull Frogs’ relay teams on Thursday, he likely will be on two of them Saturday. All three are seeded fourth.

"Chris has a great opportunity for multiple swims this weekend," North coach Logan Schaefer said. "We’re staying focused on the process to try to do everything we can to be even better on Saturday."

Also for the Bull Frogs, Tristen Cook qualified third in the 200 individual medley (2:07.83) and fifth in the 100 butterfly (56.13), Daniel Utterback was third in the 100 butterfly (55.57) and fifth in the 50 freestyle (22.16) and Aidan McAlister qualified third in the 500 freestyle (5:06.28) and fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:51.95).

"I think our team is going to do really well on Saturday," Lee said. "If we’re confident in the training that we’ve done so far this season, we’re going to do well and surprise a lot of teams."

Meanwhile, East qualified second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.65), and Branson Young was third in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.34), both in times that rank eighth-best in school history. Besides his seventh in the 50 freestyle, Kelly qualified sixth in the 100 freestyle (51.18), with both of those being second-fastest in school history.

The Olympians’ Mason Curry, who was ninth in the 100 butterfly and will swim in Saturday’s consolation heat, had the eighth-best time in school history (56.62).

"With all of those times in the top-10 best ever, we had a really good night," East coach David Fribley said. "We had a lot of (personal records), and that’s what you want. I’m really pleased."

Trinity Lutheran’s Ethan Myers qualified for the consolation head of the 200 freestyle in 16th in 2:10.69.

Diving begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, with competitors making their first eight of the 11 dives. Swimming consolations and finals start at 1 p.m., with the final three dives taking place during its normal spot within the meet.

Defending sectional champion Columbus North hopes to challenge this year’s Conference Indiana champion, Bloomington North, for the sectional title.

"Anything can happen on Saturday," Schaefer said. "Both teams are ready to at it to try to win it all on Saturday. Diving will be key for us. We’re excited to get behind our divers and take advantage of every swim we have on Saturday."