IHSAA boys swimming: Trio leads Bloomington South to sectional title

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Bloomington South's Botond Kun and North's Hunter Tang were just lying in the weeds.

Both of them came in as No. 2 seeds after the preliminaries of the Columbus North boys' swimming sectional, and simply waiting, like gators on the hunt, for the right time to strike. It worked as each of them won their first sectional titles on Saturday in the finals, sending them to the IHSAA state finals.

Kun, a junior who grew up in Hungary before moving here as a sophomore, did the 500 freestyle-butterfly combination last year at sectional, finishing second and fifth but did get a chance to swim at state for the 400 relay. Switching over to just distance frees this year, the back half of both of his races carried him to the titles in the 200 and 500 frees.

"It's very good," Kun said of his two titles. "I can't believe it. That's so good."

Trailing halfway through the 200, he hung tough through the last 100, with two splits under 27 seconds to go 1:43.71 and top North's Ben Buehler by just .18.

In the 500, Kun was neck-and-neck with Oldenburg Academy freshman Nash King at the 300-yard mark. But after that, Kun kept chopping the waters with sub 29s while King fell off and Kun had another career best race, winning in 4:39.70,a state cut time as well.

"That was the plan," Kun said. "Just put everything into it over the last part."

"He's earned it," South coach Phil Cole said. "His training from a year ago to now was reflected today. He's training better, he's more focused and able to do more in the training.

"The thing I was really impressed by today was he really raced hard today."

Tang hadn't been under a minute in the 100 breaststroke yet, but took care of that milestone in the prelims with a 59.55. He didn't mind that someone beat him for the top spot, just less pressure on him, he said.

Taking off in the finals, he was tied for second after the first 50 then pushed through the second lap just well enough to take the title in 59.12, just .24 ahead of second place Mikhail Machavariani of Columbus East, and .29 from third.

"I wanted to go 56 (the school record is 56.86) but I went 59 instead," Tang said. "But I still won, so it's OK. That's just the goal. I was trying to keep up with the people next to me, but I got it done.

"The last half, just start cooking. My strategy was to keep with (Machavariani and CN's Jude Abdullah in the lanes around him) but not use all my energy so the back half, I could catch up to them and it worked."

Tang set himself up well for the breakthrough.

"Hunter getting under a minute on Thursday was awesome and he thought he could go a little bit faster today and he did," North coach Max Irwin said. "It came down to the touch and he nailed. I wasn't sure until I looked up at the board.

"Being able to turn up that tempo was very helpful for him. Getting the stroke count right so he hit the wall on the right number of strokes was very big for him."

Bloomington da' bomb

Cole got his first pool dunking after a boys' sectional since 2018 as the Panthers edged the Cougars, 438-425, for the title, ending North's four-year reign.

"I told the guys team-wise, everybody did their job," he said. "We had to do really well Thursday night and then the guys who really had to lay it all out, they hung on today and teh guys who didn't have to go all out came in and did their job today."

The Bloomington squads dominated, combining to win every event but diving and going 1-2 five times. South won six individual titles and two relays while North won two individual races and a relay and also had three state cuts from runner-ups to pad their squad headed to Indianapolis for next weekend's meet at the IU Natatorium.

"Any time you send them to state that's great," Irwin said. "A lot of fantastic racing today. I thought the guys fought really well in the second half of the meet. After South won the first four events, that can be sort of a morale un-booster, so coming back and winning the 100 free, 2-free relay and 100 breast, those were really big."

The area's top divers were South's Hayoon Kim and North's Teagan Hojem, who finished 7-8. Only the top four advance to regional.

Paegle, Kovacs lead South charge

As expected, juniors Lukas Paegle and David Kovacs each won two events and helped two relays win as well.

"We needed David and Lukas and Boty, we needed them to win events today for us to win the meet," Cole said. "And that happened."

Paegle's been on a tear since he adjusted his training regimen and he's needed every ounce of it going up against North junior Jay Stewart in both of his races, the 50 free and 100 butterfly, with both getting state cuts.

Paegle edged Stewart by .07 in the 50 free with a career best (by a full second) 21.02 and edged closer to his goal of a sub 21. Then it was on to the fly, where he not only won, he broke Ian Finnerty's sectional record with a 49.01, .73 better than last year's PR.

"I feel pretty good," Paegle said. "My races weren't perfect though. That just makes me excited for state because I know the environment's going to be a lot better and I'll be more prepared for that. But the energy's pretty high right now."

He'll be working to fix his walls for state.

"Mainly my turns," he said. "In the 50 free, my turn was pretty bad. My turns in the fly weren't that great, but I think the stroke was pretty good and the underwaters were pretty consistent, which I'm happy with."

Kovacs was all smiles, too, as he aims for big things next week in the back and 200 individual medley.

He was on point in the back with a 48.84 that splattered his sectional record from last year (49.70) and is just .3 from his school record at the 2023 state finals. Earlier, Kovacs ran away with the IM by six second with a 1:50.35, just one second off his PR.

"I'm very pleased," Kovacs said. "1:50.35 is about what I went at junior nationals and then the 100 back also around the same I was at junior nationals so I'm excited to taper and get going at state."

Paegle and Kovacs also helped the medley relay win by a wide margin in 1:34.11 and they bookended the 400 free relay's win in 3:07.72 with a pair of sub-46 splits.

"That's as low as we've been in a while in the 400," Cole said, looking back to a 3:06.18 at the 2018 state finals.

Dixon, Stewart add to state list

North senior Ben Dixon was a sectional champ in the 100 and 200 frees last year and traded the 200 for the 50 this time. He just missed the state cut by .07 in that competitive race, settling for third in 21.43, but came back to rule again this year in the 100 in 46.41 after breaking Irwin's school record (46.53) in the prelims with a 46.00.

"With the 100 free, I just wanted to get the school record and I also wanted to go 45," Dixon said. "So I went as hard as I could in prelims so I'd have two chances to go get the school record.

"Just barely missed the 45 but I was happy with the school record. And for this one, I was hoping to PR or win it and happy with winning."

Dixon also played a big role, along with Ben Buehler and Stewart and junior Landon Mobley, in winning the 200 free relay in 1:26.77 and getting a state cut of 3:11.53 for second in the 400 free relay. Both were not far off last year's school record times. In the 200, Buehler had a 21.50 start and Dixon a meet best 21.11 third leg, while Dixon had a 46.66 lead off in the 400, with Buehler at 47.1.

In addition to the 50 free, Stewart had a 50.24 state cut for second in the fly.

Edgewood finishes well

Edgewood had one of its biggest contingents back for the finals after having no one last year.

The best finishes came from junior Tucker McCarty, who was 11th in the back and the IM and Matthew Phillips, who was 13th in the breast and 14th in the IM.

All three relays took eighth after making the A Finals.

COLUMBUS NORTH SECTIONAL

Team scores: 1. Bloomington South 438; 2. Bloomington North 425; 3. Columbus East 281; 4. East Central 220; 5. Columbus North 216; 6. Greensburg 135; 7. Milan 117; 8. Oldenburg Academy 112; 9. Edgewood 94; 10. Batesville 61; 11. South Dearborn 55; 12. Rising Sun 45; 13. South Ripley 23.

Top 3 individual and area finishes. Winners and those who meet state standard (denoted with *) advance to state

50 freestyle (21.36): 1. Lukas Paegle, BS, 21.02; 2. Jay Stewart, BN, 21.09*; 3. Ben Dixon, BN, 21.43; 8. Landon Mobley, BN, 22.76. (8. Carter Warren, BS, 22.70; 9. Alex Ketrow, BS, 22.91).

100 freestyle (46.93): 1. Dixon, BN, 46.41; 2. Ben Buehler, BN, 47.53; 3. Henry Strotman, EC, 48.04; 6. Mobley, BN, 49.24; 7. Carter, BS, 49.46. (10. Connor Schmeckebier, BS, 50.73; 11. Rice Laughlin, BS, 51.73).

200 freestyle (1:42.50): 1. Botond Kun, BS, 1:43.71; 2. Buehler, BN, 1:43.99; 3. Keaton Stephenson, CE, 1:45.08; 4. Kian Kadlec, BS, 1:45.55; 7. Tyler Peterson, BS, 1:50.19; 8. Ty Mayer, BN, 1:52.84. (11. T. Madeira, BN, 1:45.10; 15. Josh Kohne, Edg, 2:02.55).

500 freestyle (4:41.80): 1. Kun, BS, 4:39.70; 2. Nash King, OA, 4:42.42; 3. Kadlec, BS, 4:48.23; 4. Mayer, BN, 4:54.02; 6. Peterson, BS, 4:57.94; 8. T.Madeira, BN, 5:15.54. (9. Jacen Madeira, BN, 5:11.10; 16. J.Kohne, Edg, 5:40.36).

100 backstroke (52.09): 1. David Kovacs, BS, 48.84 (sectional record; old record, 49.70, Kovacs, 2023); 2. Dylan Thomas, M, 51.73*; 3. Judah Nickoll, CE, 53.48; 5. Connor Seidenfaden, BS, 56.19; 6. Alex Madeira, BN, 56.90. (9. William Whitaker, BN, 57.62; 10. Quinn Pleskac, BS, 58.33; 11. Tucker McCarty, Edg, 1:01.20; 12. Donovan Keith Reeves, BN, 1:01.33; 16. Sam Kohne, Edg, 1:06.66).

100 breaststroke (58.00): 1. Hunter Tang, BN, 59.12; 2. Mikhail Machavariani, CE, 59.36; 3. Jude Abdallah, CN, 59.41; 5. Landon Yake, BN, 1:01.09; 6. William Foley, BN, 1:01.78; 7. Ketrow, BS, 1:02.14; 8. Leo Nelson, BS, 1:02.97. (12. Ethan Cheng, BS, 1:07.94; 13. Matthew Phillips, Edg, 1:09.04.)

100 butterfly (50.82): 1. Paegle, BS, 49.01 (sectional record; old record, 49.12, Ian Finnerty, 2015); 2. Stewart, BN, 50.24*; 3. Diego Contero Tapia, CN, 51.67; 7. Pleskac, BS, 56.19; 8. Seidenfaden, BS, 57.05. (9. Luke Miller, BN, 56.25; 11. A.Madeira, BN, 57.86; 14. S.Kohne, Edg, 1:06.08; Jackson Schmalensee, Edg, DQ).

200 individual medley (1:55.45): 1. Kovacs, BS, 1:50.35; 2. King, OA, 1:56.35; 3. Jerry Hundley, CE, 2:02.04; 4. Miller, BN, 2:02.27; 5. Nelson, BS, 2:03.66; 6. Yake, BN, 2:06.36; 8. Laughlin, BS, 2:08.74. (11. McCarty, Edg, 2:16.39; 14. Phillips, Edg, 2:21.25).

Diving (Top 4 advance to regional): 1. Gavin Day, CE, 446.80; 2. Nicholas Hutchinson, EC, 369.40; 3. Cameron Cheek, SD, 326.20; 4. Carson Cheek, SD, 288.75; 7. Hayoon Kim, BS, 246.25; 8. Teagan Hojem, BN, 237.40. (9. Spencer Daily, 228.95; 11. William Steiner, BN, 216.65).

200 medley relay (1:36.95): 1. Bloomington South (Kovacs, Ketrow, Paegle, Nelson), 1:34.11; 2. Columbus East, 1:38.10; 3. East Central, 1:39.78; 5. Bloomington North (Whitaker, Tang, Yake, Foley), 1:41.79; 8. Edgewood (McCarty, Phillips, S.Kohne, Cohen Bell), 1:51.78.

200 freestyle relay (1:27.74): 1. Bloomington North (Buehler, Mobley, Dixon, Stewart), 1:26.77; 2. Columbus North, 1:29.09; 3. Bloomington South (Nelson, Kun, Warren, Schmeckebier), 1:31.45; 7. Edgewood (McCarty, S.Kohne, Mason Wilson, J.Kohne), 1:41.50.

400 freestyle relay (3:13.80): 1. Bloomington South (Peagle, Kadlec, Kun, Kovacs), 3:07.72; 2. Bloomington North (Dixon, Buehler, Mobley, Stewart), 3:11.53*; 3. Columbus East, 3:15.05; 8. Edgewood (Schmalensee, Bell, Phillips, J.Kohne), 3:48.79.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Big 3 lead Bloomington South boys' swimming to IHSAA sectional title