Columbus North’s Mridula Muthukumaran swims the butterfly portion of the 200-yard individual medley against Columbus East Dec. 17, 2024 at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
After a few years of Columbus East being competitive with Columbus North in girls swimming, the tide seems to have shifted back to the Bull Frogs this season.
The Olympians have only five athletes this year, while North has 27. Here is a look at those two teams and Jennings County heading into the 2025-26 season:
Columbus North
The Bull Frogs have a mix of veterans and newcomers, led by junior Mridula Muthukumaran, who was a state qualifier in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly.
“We have all of our strong swimmers from last year back, and they’ve all really made a decision that they want to make sure they’re taking relays and individuals to state this year,” North coach Mike Cunningham said. “They liked seeing Mridula last year go, and they want to go themselves this year. Our goal is to take at least two, if not three, relays, and then we’re looking at three or more individuals. It’s kind of a nice focus and drive for them.”
seniors Cora Tregoning, Kanav Mehta and Brooklyn Pendleton return, although Pendleton is injured and could miss the beginning of the season. Junior Abby Proffitt will be able to compete the entire season after having to compete JV most of last year following her transfer from East.
Junior Advika Badve and sophomore Sanchita Ponntahpur, Caroline Crawford and Nandini Kondahar also return. Carolina Bologna, Kylie Hartwell and Bryn Emmitt lead a solid freshman class.
“We have a lot of strong freshmen,” Cunningham said. “We have some really strong freshmen coming in next year, too, but our freshmen this year look really good. We’ll see how they fit in with the group that we have.”
Columbus East
The Olympians will have a small team this year with only three swimmers and two divers.
Sophomores Baylee Benefield and Savannah Burton are the lone returning swimmers. They are joined by freshman Sammy Kessler.
“They’ve been working pretty hard,” East coach Doug Trueblood said. “I’ve been pretty impressed with the attitudes of these girls of, ‘Hey, we’re putting in the work,’ and a lot of smiles. They can enjoy it and set our goals to the capabilities that they have.”
Sophomore diver Kinsey Marks returns and will be joined by sophomore newcomer Lilly McDonald.
“I think the key is when you’re down on numbers like this is to enrich the experience of the kids we do have,” Trueblood said. “We’re not going to be able to compete against the teams with numbers, but we can continue to improve and build the right culture of doing the best you can and having fun.”
Jennings County
Bill Dillon, who was the Panthers’ head coach for a few years in the early 201os and has been assistant some years before and after that, returns as head coach.
With 17 girls, Jennings will have its biggest team in several years. Junior Ava Biehle and senior Caylee Whitesell are the top returners, while Katie Luedeman leads a solid freshman class.
“Those three are the ones that have been coming in all fall and are in the best shape ready to go,” Dillon said.
Sophomore Hadley St. Clair also could be a major contributor.
“I’m happy with the increase in the numbers because it’s almost triple what we had last year,” Dillon said. “Some of them are in the (Jennings County Swim) club and swim year-round, which is helpful. All of these athletes know how to swim, so it’s not a situation where we had to teach them how to swim. We had a couple new ones that picked it up pretty quick, so they’ve all been able to get into good cardiovascular shape.”
