For several years, Columbus North and Jennings County squared off to begin the boys and girls swimming seasons.
This year, the Bull Frogs and Panthers met in the final dual meet and on North’s senior night. The Bull Frogs celebrated by sweeping the boys contest 133-49 and the girls meet 107-76.
“I predicted it was going to be a lot closer than that,” North coach Brett Findley said. “We knew it was going to be a team effort, which meant that every girl on the team had to step up, and they did. They did a fantastic job. They swam well. It was a total team effort.”
The Jennings girls won seven events to the Bull Frogs’ five, but North had more depth in picking up their first victory in two years. The Bull Frogs’ Ella Gray Partin won the diving competition (177.65), Karissa Bevis took the 100-yard freestyle (59.51 seconds), Abigail Henderson captured the 100 breaststroke (1:12.19) and North won the 200 freestyle (1:51.79) and 400 freestyle (4:03.65) relays.
“We’re super excited for them to get that victory finally and send our seniors on a very positive note as we get ready for championship season,” Findley said. “I was excited for the girls. They needed to come out, and Jennings County was a good matchup for us, and they pulled out a good victory.”
The Panther girls got wins from Reagan Brown in the 200 individual medley (2:22.92) and 100 backstroke (1:12.19), Avery Witt in the 50 freestyle (26.48) and 500 freestyle (5:32.21), Tatum Brown in the 200 freestyle (2:10.36), Alyssa Monnin in the 100 butterfly (1:14.50). They also won the 200 medley relay (2:08.48).
“Whenever we saw this meet on the schedule, we knew it would be close,” Jennings girls coach Morgan Webster said. “We knew that our teams were very well-matched, which usually isn’t the case with Columbus North. Columbus North has been a dominant girls team and has beat us a lot whenever we’ve swam, and that was the case again tonight. I think if we swim this meet 100 times, I bet it goes 50-50.”
Daniel Utterback won the 50 freestyle (22.41) and 100 freestyle (49.77) to lead the Bull Frog boys. Other winners were Jude Abdallah in the 200 freestyle (1:56.59), Carlos Fabian Aguilar in the 200 IM (2:12.11), Cole Wheeler in diving (238.20), David Fry in the 100 butterfly (56.26), Maclain Clock in the 100 backstroke (1:02.33) and Pratt Badve in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.34). North also swept the 200 medley (1:51.14), 200 freestyle (1:33.98) and 400 freestyle (3:44.30) relays.
“We had a chance to swim the guys in some different events again,” Findley said. “This is our last dual meet before championship season, so the seniors had a chance to swim some events they were wanting to swim and have some fun, as well. It was a good meet.”
The Panthers’ lone win on the boys side came from Noah McFall in the 500 freestyle (5:17.42).
