Mike Wolanin | The Republic Columbus North’s Daniel Utterback, top, and Franklin’s Anthony Ries swim neck in the 200-yard freestyle during a swim meet at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021.
The Republic file photo
Columbus East and Columbus North will go into this week’s North boys swimming sectional likely needing some time drops to get athletes through to the state meet.
Based on season-best times from this year, the only local athlete seeded to advance to the state meet is North junior Daniel Utterback. Utterback is ranked first in the 100-yard freestyle, making him the favorite to return to state in that event.
“Even though he is ranked first, there will be some tough competition,” North coach Brett Findley said. “With Daniel Utterback and David Fry and Carlos (Fabian Aguilar), we have some guys that are going to hope to place well in some events. Our 200 free relay and 400 free relay, we hope to either win those events or swim the state time.”
The Bull Frogs are seeded second behind Bloomington North in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays, and Utterback is seeded second in the 200 freestyle. Fry is seeded third in the 50 freestyle and sixth in the 100 butterfly, and fellow senior Fabian Aguilar is fifth in the 200 freestyle. Junior Pratt Badve is fifth in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.
The sectional will begin with preliminaries at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The top eight in each event make championship finals, while 9-through-16 in each event make the consolation heats. The consolations and finals begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The winners in each event and others meeting the state standard earn automatic berths to next weekend’s state meet. After that, swimmers with the next-best times from around the state are added until a full field of 32 is reached for an event.
Diving begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. The top four qualify for Tuesday’s Jasper Diving Regional. North senior Cole Wheeler is a two-time regional qualifier.
“In Thursday with prelims, we’re hoping the guys can drop some time and get back to Saturday and have some top-eight finishes,” Findley said. “We’re counting on Cole Wheeler in diving to do really well, as well.”
Columbus East’s Misha Machavariani competes in the 200-yard medley relay during a swim meet against Columbus North at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021.
The Republic file photo
Columbus East freshman Misha Machavariani is seeded second in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 500 freestyle, and senior Dathan Wolf is third in the 100 backstroke and fifth in the 100 freestyle. Sophomore Judah Nickoll is fourth in the 200 freestyle, and the Olympians are third in the 200 medley relay, fourth in the 200 freestyle relay and fifth in the 400 freestyle relay.
“Those top spots are really going to be tough competition,” East coach Doug Trueblood said. “The breaststroke I think is a good chance for Misha. He’s ready for some (time) drops. These guys have been working hard. Misha and Dathan can compete and get in there and try to mix it up for a top-three position. But I expect B-North to come in and drop some time. I expect (Columbus) North to drop some time and B-South and East Central. So we’re going to have to drop time and bring our best to compete.”
Bloomington North enters as the favorite to win the team title, but Columbus North hopes to challenge the Cougars for that crown.
“Bloomington North is really tough,” Findley said. “They’re very deep. We’re going to put up a fight and give it our best. Our goal is to have some great swims and try to advance as many guys as possible to the state meet.”
Bloomington South and East Central figure to battle it out for third place. Columbus East hopes to challenge those two teams.
“I think right now, our depth is not where it needs to be to be top four,” Trueblood said. “I think B-North has a lot of kids. They’re tough, and they have a lot of fast swimmers. We have a lot of fast swimmers. We just don’t necessarily have the numbers in the middle.
“We don’t have three guys that can be in the top 16 in every event, and the top three or four teams will have three swimmers in the top 16 in pretty much every event,” he added. “If we can get some drops, we might be able to challenge for the fourth place spot, but I would say fifth place is what we have to be shooting for right now and see if we can be better.”
