Columbus North’s Ainsley Sherlock competes in the 100-yard breaststroke during the sectional Feb. 5 at Columbus North High School.
The Republic file photo
The three area girls swimming and diving teams welcome back plenty of experience this season.
Columbus North and Jennings County each lost only one senior swimmer to graduation. Columbus East also returns most of its team from last season.
Here is a look at those three schools heading into the 2023-24 season:
Columbus North
Nine Bull Frogs who swam in either the championship or consolation finals in the North sectional are back.
“They’re actually looking pretty good,” second-year North coach Mike Cunningham said. “They look a lot stronger than when we started last year. The girls are hitting it hard and working hard. We’re going to have a fun, fast season and will probably surprise a lot of people.”
The top returners are sophomore Ainsley Sherlock, who finished fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke an fifth in the 200 individual medley in the sectional, and junior Katie Frazier, who placed fourth in the 200 freestyle and 10th in the 500 freestyle. Both are coming off solid cross-country seasons, where they were varsity runners for a team that finished 12th at state.
Juniors Kara Buntin, Emma Glyn-Jones and Nicole Brault and sophomores Brooklyn Pendleton, Cora Tregoning and Georgia Abdallah either swam on relay teams or in the consolation finals at the sectional. Junior Maddie Handlon is another top returner.
“They’re all coming back, and with the addition of our freshman, it’s going to be awesome,” Cunningham said. “The girls that are coming back are working hard, and the girls that are coming in are catching up and catching on real quick.”
The freshman class is led by Mridula Muthukumaran, Sanaa Kulkarni, Advika Badve and Adyasha Panda.
“We have a nice group of incoming freshman to go along with our returning sophomores and juniors,” Cunningham said. “We’re looking for some leadership out of our younger kids because we don’t have any senior swimmers. All of our seniors are divers.”
Senior Ella Gray Partin finished 11th in the sectional in diving. The other top divers are Haley Potter and senior newcomer Elise Preston, who has played basketball the past three years.
The Bull Frogs will look to improve on a fourth-place team finish in the sectional.
“Our whole philosophy is on improving them as people and swimmers,” Cunningham said. “The success with the swimming will come with their belief in hard work and themselves. You never know what’s going to happen, but I’m hoping to have a group going to state, and finishing higher at sectional is our goal.”
Columbus East
The Olympians will look to improve on a fifth-place finish in the North Sectional.
Senior Gabbie Meier is a three-time state qualifier in diving. She won the sectional and finished third in the regional and 14th at state in diving last year and also placed eighth in the sectional in the 100 butterfly.
Columbus East’s Gabbie Meier performs a dive during the Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals Feb. 12 at IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium.
The Republic file photo
Sophomore Cassidy Furnish finished third in the sectional in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Seniors Ali Trueblood and Kira VanValkenburg, junior Hannah Dean and sophomore Saya Hauser were consolation finalists at the sectional.
Other top returners are senior Grace Hale, junior Maddie Beyer and senior diver and swimmer Grace Lykins.
“We have some girls coming back, and we have some new freshmen coming in that will help us as the season goes along,” Doug Trueblood said. “They’re working hard. I like our dynamic this year.”
Leading that freshman group are Connelly Furnish and Abby Proffitt.
“I think those two freshmen specifically will be really big for us,” Doug Trueblood. “They bring club experience and will help our culture out.”
Freshmen Meg Going and Audrey Bush also will look to contribute.
The Olympians will be the first area team to compete this season when they host Bloomington North on Saturday morning.
“I want to see how our depth shores up through the season, but our goal really is to improve on what we did last year,” Doug Trueblood said. “Our goal is to move up a spot or two in the conference and move up a spot or two in the sectional if we can. It will be interesting to see how things look on Saturday against Bloomington North.”
Jennings County
The Panthers have a veteran group coming back, led by a large senior class.
“This is kind of a big year to put some stuff together,” Jennings coach Morgan Webster said. “We bring back the strength of the team, with some additions. Having that big group and having that experience on the team is going to be big for us.”
Senior Avery Witt was the only area girls swimmer to qualify for state last season. She made it in the 200 freestyle as a sophomore and the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke last season.
Senior Tatum Brown was a Floyd Central Sectional finalist in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle. Junior Alyssa Monnin was a sectional finalist in the 100 butterfly.
Sophomore Shelby Davis and junior Hannah Webster were consolation finalists. Junior Alexa Mollenhoff is back after swimming as a freshman, but not last year.
Sophomore Harmony Ernstes is the top diver. The top freshmen are Ava Biehle and Maggie Stoner.
“We have a couple swimmers coming up from middle school that I worked with at the club level,” Morgan Webster said. “It’s kind of been a waiting game for them to get up to the high school level, and now that they’re here, they’re going to be big contributors this year.”
The 2023-24 girls swimming schedules for Columbus East and Columbus North:
Columbus East
Saturday;Bloomington North;10 a.m.
Tuesday;at New Albany Relays, 6:30 p.m.
Nov. 30;at Shelbyville;6 p.m.
Dec. 4;at Jennings County;6 p.m.
Dec. 9;at Shelbyville Relays;1 p.m.
Dec. 12;Columbus North;5:30 p.m.
Dec. 16;at New Albany;10 a.m.
Dec. 19;East Central;6 p.m.
Jan. 4;at Bedford North Lawrence;6 p.m.
Jan. 9;at Madison;6 p.m.
Jan 13;HHC meet at New Albany;10 a.m.
Jan. 18;Seymour;6 p.m.
Jan. 20;Jeffersonville;10 a.m.
Jan. 23;Greensburg;6 p.m.
Columbus North
Nov. 21;Franklin;5:30 p.m.
Nov. 25;at North Central;10 a.m.
Nov. 30;at Seymour;5:30 p.m.
Dec. 5;at Center Grove (with Whiteland);6 p.m.
Dec. 9;at East Central Relays;11 a.m.
Dec. 12;at Columbus East;5:30 p.m.
Dec. 16;Bedford North Lawrence;11 a.m,
Dec. 19;at Bloomington South;5:30 p.m.
Dec. 29;at Center Grove Holiday Invitational;10:30 a.m.
Jan. 4;Bloomington North;6 p.m.
Jan. 6;Conference Indiana at Vigo County Aquatic Center;9 a.m.
Jan. 11;Heritage Christian;5:30 p.m.
Jan. 16;Jennings County;6 p.m.
