Mridula Muthukumaran improved her swimming skills and technique the past offseason, and it showed in the results.
The Columbus North junior was a state finalist for the second straight year in the 200-yard individual medley. She was the lone swimmer from the area that qualified for the state meet this year.
“Knowing what I swam last year, I think I had a better understanding of what I had to do going into sectional and kind of had a better focus on my events because I swam them a year before,” said Muthukumaran, who repeats as The Republic Girls Swimmer of the Year. “So going in, it was really working turns, starts and the main techniques in the pool so I could be faster than what I was last year.”
Muthukumaran has been across the globe ever since she was young. She was born in Oregon and moved to Canada near the Toronto area, then India until settling in Columbus when she was around 5 years old.
While in Canada, Muthukumaran took lessons to learn the basics of swimming, but more as water safety rather than competitively. It wasn’t until she moved to Columbus that she began to take swimming seriously. Muthukumaran played other sports as well as swimming, but gave them up to focus squarely on swimming.
“I absolutely love being at the pool,” Muthukumaran said. “This was the first sport that I wanted to do, and so I tried out swimming. I tried a few other sports. I did some tennis and basketball, but it made me realize, swimming is the thing I really wanted to focus on. That was the sport I enjoyed the most. So I dropped the other sports that I did, and through high school, I was like, ‘I want to focus on one sport,’ and that’s what I’ve done.”
Muthukumaran began swimming for Donner Swim Club at 6 years old and has been there ever since. Easy to say, she chose the right sport.
Last year as a sophomore, Muthukumaran swam in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. This year, she qualified for the state meet in the 200 IM.
“Mridula’s work ethic and dedication is what makes her successful. She does not make excuses and finds a way to push and make herself better than the day before.” North coach Mike Cunningham said. “Mridula has goals, and this is what motivates her. She wants to be set with a state cut prior to sectional, so that she can place top-16 at state. This is what pushes her to continually challenge herself to be better.”
Even though she didn’t make it out of the prelims, Muthukumaran was proud of her season and knows what she has to work on heading into next year in the 200 IM and butterfly. Muthukumaran didn’t rule out trying other events if her performance is well in them.
“I think being able to see what I did at sectional and at state and comparing myself, I think I have higher goals. I also know more, especially what I have to work on for my own event,” Muthukumaran said. “I think going into next year, if these are the same events I choose to swim in, I think I would love to work on my breaststroke for my individual medley, and for the fly, really going out and not being scared to go all out for the first 50 (yards).”
When she is not competing, Muthukumaran finds as much time as possible to relax in the water. Whether it is high school or college when her competitive swimming ends, Muthukumaran still wants to stay active in the water.
“If we go out, and there’s a pool, I like to at least spend an hour to relax there,” Muthukumaran said. “When I do decide to retire from swimming, I’m still going to go in and do it for the fun of it. It’s a great way to stay in shape and be active, and I don’t think I could be without being in the water at least for a little bit because I’ve done it for so long.”
Muthukumaran still has time to decide if she wants to pursue swimming after high school. She said she’d like to swim in college, but only if her schedule allows.
“Currently, I’ve decided that I do want to compete in college. If I end up doing it and I decide that, I plan on going into the medical field,” Muthukumaran said. “I know it’s a lot of academically-related stuff. If swimming doesn’t fit with my schedule, I will still apply for the club at the college, and I plan to do at least college club.”
Muthukumaran looks for better results next year. She’ll look to try for a top-16 finish or a state finals cut.
“I really do want to try and get the school record in the 100 fly and for the 200 IM,” she said. “I would really like it if I could potentially get the high school state cut in that event. If I was able to make it to state in both my events, it would be really amazing if we got some of our relays to also go into state.”
The 2025-26 Republic All-Area Girls Swimming team:
Mridula Muthukumaran, Columbus North: The junior won a sectional title and finished 26th at state in the 200 individual medley and placed third in the 100 butterfly in the North Sectional.
Cora Tregoning, Columbus North: The senior finished fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 500 freestyle and swam on the fourth-place 200 medley relay team in the North Sectional.
Abby Proffitt, Columbus North: The junior finished fourth in the 500 freestyle and swam on the third-place 200 freestyle relay and fourth-place 200 medley relay teams in the North Sectional.
Caroline Crawford, Columbus North: The sophomore finished seventh in the 100 backstroke in the North Sectional.
Advika Badve, Columbus North: The junior swam on the third-place 200 freestyle relay and fourth-place 200 medley relay team in the North Sectional.
Brooklyn Pendleton, Columbus North: The senior swam on the third-place 200 freestyle relay team in the North Sectional.
Harmony Ernstes, Jennings County: The senior finished fourth in diving in the Floyd Central Sectional and was a regional diving qualifier.
Honorable mention
Columbus North: Carolina Bologna, Bryn Emmitt, Nandini Kondhare, Ell Maignan, Sanchita Ponnathpur. Jennings County: Ava Biehle, Claudia Zuniga.
Emma Haston
