East doubles duo advances to state
BEDFORD — Columbus East’s Megna Chari and Kathryn Hodzen pulled out a three-set win pulled out a three-set win in the Bedford North Lawrence Regional semifinals, then cruised in the final to advance to the state doubles tournament.
Chari and Hodzen rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win against Claudia Jennings and Abby Myers of Evansville Memorial in the semifinals. The East duo then downed Chloie Yost and Zoie Zimmerman of Silver Creek 6-1, 6-1 in the final.
In the semifinal, Chari and Hodzen dropped the first four games in the first set. They trailed 5-2 in the second set before winning five consecutive games to force a third set.
“They started really flat and playing really sloppily,” East coach Matt Malinsky said. “They stormed back, but kept losing the big points. But they came back, and they had a pretty dominant second match to advance to state.”
The duo are the first East girls tennis players to qualify for state. Malinsky and Josh Burnett made the Boys Doubles State Finals in 2004.
Chari and Hodzen will join Columbus North’s Madelyn Sanders and Eva Chevalier in the state doubles quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Friday at Park Tudor High School in Indianapolis. The semifinals will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by the final at 2 p.m.
Brinegar anchors winning U.S. relay team
Michael Brinegar anchored the winning 4×1250-meter mixed team relay at the French Open Water National Championships in Gravelines, France.
Brinegar joined Haley Anderson, Ashley Twichell and Taylor Abbott to swim 54 minutes, 56 seconds. That was nearly a minute ahead of runner-up The Netherlands.
