Columbus East senior Gabbie Meier is The Republic Girls Swimmer and Diver of the Year. She is pictured at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, February. 28, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
The way Gabbie Meier’s high school diving career ended was in no way a microcosm of the way it went the rest of her four-year career.
The Columbus East senior put together another stellar season that ended with a fourth consecutive trip to the state finals. She is The Republic Girls Swimmer and Diver of the Year for the fourth time in four years.
“I think without having one (constant) coach, what I was able to do was really good for me,” Meier said. “I still feel like I improved, and breaking both of my records was a huge improvement. I got way faster in swimming, and I was still able to break records with diving, too.”
Meier broke both the six-dive and 11-dive school records. She won her fourth straight sectional diving title and finished third in the Jasper Diving Regional to make it back to state.
Although she entered the state meet with the fifth-best regional score, Meier, who had placed 16th and 14th at state the two previous years, was a little off on a couple of preliminary dives and finished 25th.
“It was exciting to be at state,” Meier said. “My warmup went great, but then I think the nerves and everything just got to me. The season here kind of just got to me. I think I put myself into a bad mental attitude.”
Former East diving coaches Nancy Snyder and Cordell Glass stepped down after last season. So Meier went to a camp last summer at Indiana University and went there two to four times a week in the fall to train.
Once the high school season started, Meier would go to swimming practice at East and would dive at either East or IU.
“It’s more intense over there,” Meier said. “We do dryland before practice. They critique the small things that I would never think of, so it helps me improve a lot.”
Not only was Meier an elite diver, she was one of the Olympians’ top swimmers the past couple of years. She swam on two of East’s relay teams and finished 10th in the sectional in the 100-yard butterfly. She led off the sectional runner-up 400 freestyle relay team with a personal-best 56-second split.
“I dropped a lot of time, which was a huge improvement,” Meier said. “This was my first time being able to go under a minute in the 100 (freestyle).”
“Gabbie was awesome for us in two facets — a dominant diver, but she’s so athletic, she’s also a great swimmer,” East coach Doug Trueblood added. “She made some of our biggest time drops out of all of our swimmers. I know she was a little disappointed with how (diving) went at the state meet, but she was our fastest swimmer in the 100 freestyle at the end of the season. She had a lot of dedication, and a lot of hard work, and that’s what led her to the success that she had.”
Meier, who just started her fourth year of track and field, is planning to continue diving at the collegiate level. She is headed to University of Southern Indiana and wants to major in nursing.
“It was in my few options of colleges I could dive for, and when I visited campus, I really liked it and knew it was the place,” Meier said.
The Republic 2023-24 All-Area Girls Swimming and Diving team:
Gabbie Meier, Columbus East: The senior won the sectional and finished third in the regional and 25th at state in diving.
Connelly Furnish. Columbus East: The freshman finished second in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle in the sectional.
Ali Trueblood, Columbus East: The senior finished fourth in the sectional in the 100 breaststroke.
Cassidy Furnish, Columbus East: The sophomore finished sixth in the sectional in the 500 freestyle.
Kira VanValkenburg, Columbus East: The senior finished seventh in the sectional in the 200 individual medley.
Abby Proffitt, Columbus East: The freshman finished eighth in the sectional in the 500 freestyle.
Ainsley Sherlock, Columbus North: The sophomore won the sectional and finished 24th at state in the 100 breaststroke, and took third in the sectional in the 200 IM.
Mridula Muthukumaran, Columbus North: The freshman third in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 100 backstroke in the sectional.
Katie Frazier, Columbus North: The junior finished fourth in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle n the sectional.
Sanaa Kulkarni, Columbus North: The freshman finished sixth in the 200 IM and seventh in the 100 butterfly in the sectional.
Brooklyn Pendleton, Columbus North: The sophomore finished sixth in the sectional in the 50 freestyle.
Cora Tregoning, Columbus North: The sophomore finished seventh in the sectional in the 100 breaststroke.
Georgia Abdallah, Columbus North: The sophomore finished eighth in the sectional in the 50 freestyle.
Ella Gray Partin, Columbus North: The senior finished eighth in the sectional in diving.
Avery Witt, Jennings County: The senior won the Floyd Central Sectional and finished 27th at state in the 100 backstroke and took fourth in the sectional in the 200 freestyle.
Tatum Brown, Jennings County: The senior finished fourth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 200 freestyle in the sectional.
Honorable mention
Columbus East: Maddie Beyer, Grace Hale, Grace Lykins. Columbus North: Ava Andrews, Advika Badve, Kara Buntin, Emma Glyn-Jones, Kanav Mehta. Jennings County: Rachael Manning, Alexa Mollenhoff, Margaret Stoner, Hannah Webster.
