Columbus East’s Josh Pendleton swims the 500-yard freestyle during the Boys Swimming State Finals Feb. 28 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.
Chris Williams | For The Republic
While the girls swimming season began for Columbus North last week, the boys can start having meets this week. The Bull Frog boys and girls will host Franklin Tuesday, and Columbus East and Jennings County will start their seasons next week.
Here is a look at those three boys teams heading into the 2025-26 season:
Columbus East
The Olympians lost five of their six state qualifiers, but return sophomore Josh Pendleton, who finished ninth at state in the 500-yard freestyle as a freshman.
“He’s the big dog now as a sophomore now because we lost a lot of experience and just high-level commitment swimmers last season with Misha (Machavariani), (Todd) Hundley and that group,” East coach Doug Trueblood said. “Josh really benefitted from having those senior leaders and quality and training. We have to make sure we know how to train Josh and push Josh. He’s working hard, he’s a great worker. It’s just going to be on myself and the coaching staff to make sure we’re motivation him and training him the right way.”
Other top returners include senior Mason Bean and Ethan Kessler and junior Ryan Lienhoop. Top newcomers are junior Josh VanValkenburg and freshman Alex Stilson.
“They all look good,” Trueblood said. “They’re not all necessarily sectional top-16s at the moment, but I think we’ll see steady improvement as the season goes along for those guys. I’m hoping that we can build these young kids up these season and show them that they can be pretty good.”
The Olympians have a small team with only nine swimmers.
“Hopefully, they can enjoy it and go out and tell their friends, ‘Hey, it’s hard, but it’s really rewarding,’” Trueblood said. “It just seems to be tougher at East to come out for swimming with morning practices and the training that we do. It’s tough to get kids to come and try it out. We’re really hoping that changes.”
Columbus North
The Bull Frogs have a large team numbers-wise as they look to improve on a seventh-place sectional finish.
“We have a pretty solid returning group,” North coach Mike Cunningham said. “It’s probably one of the largest teams we’ve had since I got here. A lot of beginning kids, but we’re looking pretty strong.”
The Bull Frogs’ top athletes might be their two divers, senior Gary Streeval and junior Dagan Kleffman, both of which were regional diving qualifiers last season.
“They should both qualify for state,” Cunningham said. “The way they’re diving, they’re far beyond where they were at this time last year. It’s pretty exciting to see.”
Columbus North’s Aarush Mahato (foreground) swims the breaststroke portion of the 200-yard individual medley against Columbus East Dec. 17, 2024 at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Senior Aarush Mahato, Isaac Niewedde, HP Devagupatu and Luis Valerdi; juniors Eli Varchenko, Hudson Clock and Oliver Lifferth and sophomore Eli McIntier are the top returning swimmers. Felix Valerdi, Nathan Valentine, Sarthak Kamble and Ananad Neela lead a solid freshman class.
“We’re still building, but we’re looking for a lot more success this year and some fast swimming,” Cunningham said. “We’re looking to get some relays to state for sure. That’s our primary goal. If some individuals happen, that’s going to be awesome.”
Jennings County
Former Panther coach Bill Dillon has returned to lead the team. He has 13 swimmers, about three times as many as Jennings had last season.
“A handful of those guys are new swimmers, but they are working hard,” Dillon said. “The good news is, we have four freshmen that have club experience that I think are going to turn things around in a positive direction for us.”
That freshman class is led by Levi Whitesell, Ayden Chen and Jayden Minneman. Senior Charlie Witt is the top returner.
“We’re a young team. I think these kids are going to get in shape and really drop a lot of time,” Dillon said. “We may not win a lot of meets, but I think our improvement from our first meet to our last meet is going to be significant.”
