Primed For State: East diver back for second go, swimmer making debut

The experience she gained at state last year, Gabbie Meier figures, will be of great benefit when she competes in the diving competition Saturday at the Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals.

As a result, the Columbus East sophomore will enter this year’s state meet at IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium with a much higher confidence level than she did as a freshman.

“Since I competed last year, I know how the boards feel,” Meier said. “I know how the pool is. That will help me.”

Meier, who finished 29th at state last year, advanced with a sixth-place finish with a 401.45 in Tuesday’s Jasper Regional. That was the 13th-best score among the 32 divers from around the state who qualified.

Center Grove’s Mia Prusiecki, who won the Jasper Regional, had the state’s highest score at 572.95.

“The scoring from the judges is so different throughout the different parts of the state, and at state, you’re only being judged by referees, which is not a bad thing,” East diving coach Nancy Snyder said. “It’s just different, and then you also have such a wide range of divers that the judging just plays a whole different thing. So your scores are not necessarily going to be the same.”

Gabbie Meier

Meier’s sectional and regional scores were much higher this year than last year. Her winning score of 422.2 for 11 dives at the Columbus North Sectional broke the school record she set in last year’s sectional and would put her ninth in Saturday’s field.

“It makes me feel a lot better because last year, I went into this not knowing anything, thinking that I was probably going to get put out in the first round, which I did,” Meier said. “This year, I’m pretty confident that I can make it through all the rounds.”

The diving competition begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. The field will be cut to 20 after five rounds, then 16 after eight rounds.

“She’s been diving well,” Snyder said. “She has a decent score going in. If she plays it, we should definitely do better than we did last year, and we’re hoping for that first cut, maybe even the second. She has her higher-scoring dives early on to help get her past the cuts, which is an advancement from last year. We’re ready.”

After being the only area swimmer or diver to qualify for state last year, Meier will have company this weekend. Her senior teammate, Ellie Proffitt, qualified for the first time after winning the 50-yard freestyle in Monday’s sectional finals and will compete in Friday night’s preliminaries, which begin at 6 p.m..

“This has definitely been a goal that I’ve been working toward all season and something that I’ve been really striving for,” Proffitt said. “So it’s definitely been a possibility.”

Proffitt is seeded 27th at 24.53 seconds. Lillian Christianson of Penn is first at 22.85.

“I’m excited to go in there and see if I can drop some more time with different competition,” Proffitt said. “It’s exciting to get to race again.”

The top eight in each event qualify for the finals, while swimmers 9-through-16 make the consolation finals, which begin at 1 p.m. Saturday. The 16th seed in the 50 freestyle is at 24.14.

“There are like 13 girls within a second there,” East coach Jill Arnholt said. “I think they all have a shot. I think she has a real shot to make it back. She just has to swim a perfect race like she did at sectional. She’s fired up about it. She’s like, ‘I’m ready. I’m going to go for it,’ so she has a great mindframe. We have a great chance at coming back on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Jennings County advanced one of its swimmers to the state meet. Senior Reagan Brown is seeded 28th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:08.17 going into Friday’s prelims.

Devon Kitchel of Zionsville is the top seed in the 100 breaststroke at 1:02.01. The 16th seed is at 1:05.64.