Columbus East girls swimming coach Jill Arnholt knew she had a few strong returning swimmers, but the success of the Olympians this season will depend on how some of the more inexperienced swimmers progress.
Although East fell to Bloomington North 107-75 in Saturday morning’s season opener, Arnholt felt encouraged.
“It’s our first meet, and we see some things that we have to work on, but I’m pretty satisfied with the way they swam today,” Arnholt said. “They’re working hard. We have a few returning that are still doing a good job for us, but they’re still learning things.”
The Olympians won four events, including two relays. Karissa Miller, Marin Wieneke, Jennifer Utterback and Ellie Proffitt teamed to take the 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 57.08 seconds and the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.20.
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“We have a really strong base of four girls, and the rest of the team, they’re coming up,” Arnholt said. “Cloe (McDonald) winning diving was huge for us. I think Kerigan Greathouse and Halle Herbert are going to come up for us and do some great stuff.”
McDonald won the diving competition with 176.70 points. East’s other win came from Miller in the 100 freestyle in 55.50.
Miller also finished second in the 100 backstroke in 1:06.03.
“I did not swim over the summer, so I’m happy with where my times are right now, considering that,” Miller said. “I feel like I’m right where I was last season.”
Wieneke finished second in both the 50 freestyle (26.46) and 100 breaststroke (1:17.12). Utterback took second in the 100 butterfly (1:09.29) and third in the 200 freestyle (2:24.43), and Proffitt was second in the 500 freestyle (6:01.59) and third in the 200 individual medley (2:34.40).
Josie Havenaar, Michaela Greathouse, Hope Hornyak and Caroline Andress finished second in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:28.30.
“I feel like we had a really nice swim meet today,” Miller said. “All the girls tried their best, which is really good. I feel like as the season goes on, we can definitely improve a lot of our swim times. I’m happy with what we did today.”
