IHSAA girls swimming: Bloomington South overpowers field at East Central Sectional

Bloomington South swept the relays, won four individual events and advanced another on a state cut to win the team title by a wide margin at the IHSAA's East Central girls' swimming sectional on Saturday in St. Leon.

Bloomington North senior Ashley Freel also had a day, winning two events with school record times and also broke a 13-year old sectional record, and Edgewood had its strongest showing in a decade.

South had 502 points, the most since the Panthers put up 518 in 2016, to easily outdistance Columbus North and take its eighth team title in the past nine years. Bloomington North was third (314) and Edgewood was sixth at 153, matching its placement and point total from 2014.

"I think our girls swam really amazing and that's what that 500 mark shows," South coach Annie Eakin said. "They came in and swam the best they could possibly swim. And we swam faster on Saturday and moved up in places. It was a really great day."

Harper Eakin was a double-winner for the Panthers, sweeping the distance frees with times near her lifetime bests, going 1:58.22 to win the 200 and 5:07.78 to take the 500.

"That's exactly where we wanted to see her be at (on Saturday)," Annie Eakin said. "She's not fully tapered, so she'll drop more time at state and she's poised to be in the top 16 over the weekend."

Anna Asplund, a junior, also made state in two events, winning the 100 free in 52.80 and then getting a state cut by one tenth of a second in 57.29 for second in the 100 backstroke behind the flying Freel.

"It's a relief that Anna did make the state cut," Eakin said. "She was determined and excited to do that. Anna also is not fully tapered. She's on the same training schedule as Harper, so she'll also be swimming faster at state. And that also meant a lot to our relays, too, so they'll be able to swim faster in the prelims in all three."

Senior Kate Seidenfaden also earned her first individual swim at state by winning the 200 individual medley by a mere .53 in 2:14.10, a big six-second drop from her seed time coming into the sectional. She was also third in the back (1:01.67). A little extra work in the fly and breast made all the difference in the IM.

"She placed second last year (in the IM) and I knew last year she wanted to win it," Eakin said. "So I knew she would go all in there so she could get out in her own individual event. She put it all out there."

The Panthers also saw Lucy Tait finish second in the 50 free (25.15) by just .07 and Emily Wang end up second in the breaststroke (1:07.33) and fourth in the IM. Warren Campbell was third in the 200 and 500 frees. Ambra Marchionne was third in the 100 free.

South won a tight race in the 200 medley by .77 with a 1:51.19, then took the 200 free relay in an even tighter finish in 1:42.07, beating East Central by .62, North by .75 and Columbus North by 1.12 seconds. Marchionne got South off to a solid start against several other team's top sprinters and that allowed the others less ground to make up by the time Tait made her final turn and put the Panthers in front.

"The (200 free relay) was probably the most fun race of the whole meet for me," Eakin said. "The girls swam really well."

The Panthers were all by themselves out front in the 400 free to win in 3:43.42. Eakin and Marchionne were on both free relays, Tait was on the medley and 200 free teams and Seidenfaden and Asplund were on the medley relay and 400 free team.

Freel off to state again

North's lone qualifier was Freel, who flew to a 55.52 in the 100 butterfly to break her school mark of 56.57 from last year's state meet. It was also a sectional record, taking down the 55.65 set by South's Casey Papp back in 2011. Freel then went 56.25 in the back, that broke her record 56.57, also from the 2023 state finals.

"I think both her and I were really stoked with how she looked on both of her events," North coach Taylor McGregor said. "She was really in control and strong and feeling pretty good, with more to drop off.

"We were excited with what the scoreboard showed. It was a big day to have both best times and to get the sectional record in the fly, we had not really talked about that. It wasn't on our radar so it was a fun cherry on top moment to get that, too."

The Cougars will also send senior diver Isabella Martin to the Jasper Regional on Tuesday after she used a strong finish on her last three dives to score a 304.00, just 1.55 points ahead of South's Lucy Miksza for fourth place. South's Nia Johnson was sixth.

Martin was fifth last year with a slightly higher score but 23 points from fourth and seventh as a sophomore.

"I think she's been knocking on the door for a regional bid for a couple years now," McGregor said. "So to see her grow into that over the course of four years and finally make that fourth spot is really a nice story line. A happy senior moment."

North also saw Leona Wang take third in the breast (1:10.57) and fourth in the fly (1:03.34). Sara Buehler was top-six in the 100 and 200 frees.

"(Sunday) morning, I ran the data and I was just so impressed with the rest of the team, McGregor said. "We had 23 of 24 swims end up with lifetime bests. You can't ask for much better than that.

"We had some kids, sophomores and juniors, who didn't make the sectional teams as freshmen, being in the top eight. Elle deWeber had a great meet. And Kate Thies, Sara and Leona both had awesome meets. Same with Sydney Garretson. They had blazing fast times on Thursday so I'm happy the sophomore and junior class is set up well for next year."

Strong day for Edgewood

Edgewood's Ellie Vagedes ended her season with a second-place finish and another school record with a 1:01.19 in the fly. She also placed fourth in the 200 free in 2:02.19.

More: Ellie Vagedes, Ellie Lewis living in the fast lane for Edgewood girls swimming

Ellie Lewis took another chunk off her best 500 time with a 5:46.85 that won the B Final for ninth. She was also sixth in the breast in her third year making the A Final.

The Mustangs also finished sixth in the 200 and 400 free relays.

"We had a number of lifetime best times," Edgewood coach Jeff Kohne said. "And moved up in places in a few events. The culmination of a great season of performances. We couldn’t be more proud of every single one of these girls."

EAST CENTRAL SECTIONAL

Team scores: 1. Bloomington South 502; 2. Columbus North 323; 3. Bloomington North 314; 4. East Central 286; 5. Columbus East 228; 6. Edgewood 153; 7. South Dearborn 98; 8. Batesville 89; 9. Rising Sun 61; 10. Greensburg 53; 11. Milan 47; 12. South Ripley 26; 13. Oldenburg Academy 24; 14. Lawrenceburg 17.

Winners and those who meet the state standard (denoted with *) advance to state.

50 freestyle (24.19): 1. Audrey Bumgardner, EC, 25.08; 2. Lucy Tait, BS, 25.15 3. Riley Reany, EC, 25.30; 5. Ambra Marchionne, BS, 26.04; 7. Merlyn Rojas, BS, 26.30. (10. Sydney Garretson, BN, 26.84; 11. Maya Gill, Edg, 27.18; 13. Iria Perez, BN, 28.01; 16. Zhenia Venegas, Edg, 28.99).

100 freestyle (52.62): 1. Anna Asplund, BS, 52.80; 2. Bumgardner, EC, 55.65; 3. Marchionne, BS, 56.27; 5. Tait, BS, 56.91; 6. Sara Buehler, BN, 57.39. (13. Ella deWeber, BN, 1:00.17; 16. Helena Lehr, BN, 1:01.59).

200 freestyle (1:54.10): 1. Harper Eakin, BS, 1:58.22; 2. Jillian Bley, EC, 2:00.18; 3. Campbell Warren, BS, 2:00.76; 4. Ellie Vagedes, Edg, 2:02.19; 6. Buehler, BN, 2:04.77; 7. Abagail Smith, BS, 2:05.93. (9. deWeber, BN, 2:08.83; 11. Addison Covey, BN, 2:10.23).

500 freestyle (5:08.30): 1. Eakin, BS, 5:07.78; 2. Connelly Furnish, CE, 5:17.50; 3. Warren, BS, 5:23.21; 5. Smith, BS, 5:36.54; 7. Kate Thies, BN, 5:37.96. (9. Ellie Lewis, Edg, 5:46.85; 10. Covey, BN, 5:47.81; 12. Adrianna Terry, BN, 5:55.62).

100 backstroke (57.39): 1. Ashley Freel, BN, 56.25 (school record; old record, 56.57, Freel, 2023); 2. Asplund, BS, 57.29*; 3. Kate Seidenfaden, BS, 1:01.67; 6. Thies, BN, 1:04.82; 8. Leighton Huffman, BS, 1:09.39. (9. Elizabeth Sereda, BN, 1:09.44).

100 breaststroke (1:05.91): 1. Ainsley Sherlock, CN, 1:06.87; 2. Emily Wang, BS, 1:07.33; 3. Leona Wang, BN, 1:10.57; 5. Nora Borneman, BS, 1:17.04; 6. Lewis, Edg, 1:17.27. (11. Chloe Nguyen, BS, 1:17.59; 13. Hailey Youseif, BN, 1:18.58; 14. Annalise Doyle, Edg, 1:21.61).

100 butterfly (57.19): 1. Freel, BN 55.52 (school record; old record, 56.57, Freel, 2023)(sectional record, old record, 55.65, Casey Papp, South, 2011); 2. Vagedes, Edg, 1:01.19; 3. Mridula Muthukumaran, CN, 1:02.59; 4. L.Wang, BN, 1:03.34; 5. Rojas, BS, 1:03.51; 6. Tamara Kun, BS, 1:04.62; 8. Garretson, BN, 1:07.49. (9. Loreeli Held, BS, 1:08.78; 14. Jaelyn Woodcock, Edg, 1:13.36).

200 individual medley (2:08.34): 1. Seidenfaden, BS, 2:14.10; 2. Furnish, CE, 2:14.63; 3. Sherlock, CN, 2:19.49; 4. E.Wang, BS, 2:20.37. (11. Sereda, BN, 2:34.67; 13. Lehr, BN, 2:39.07; 14. Doyle, Edg, 2:41.66).

Diving (Top 4 to regional): 1. Gabriel Meier, CE, 408.00; 2. Bree Cleary, EC, 406.85; 3. Brynn Hamlett, SD, 319.10; 4. Isabella Martin, BN, 304.00; 5. Lucy Miksza, BS, 302.45; 6. Nia Johnson, BS, 300.30; 7. Cecilia Markel, BS, 278.00; 9. Avery Dunham, Edg, 274.60; 11. Aryana Wallace, BN, 264.00.

200 medley relay (1:49.12): 1. Bloomington South (Asplund, Wang, Seidenfaden, Tait), 1:51.19; 2. Bloomington North (Thies, Wang, Freel, Buehler), 1:51.96; 3. Columbus North, 1:54.84; 8. Edgewood (Naylei Young, Allison Lilley, Madeline Porter, Marilyn Ballard), 2:16.33.

200 freestyle relay (1:39.13): 1. Bloomington South (Marchionne, Warren, Eakin, Tait), 1:42.07; 2. East Central, 1:42.69; 3. Bloomington North (Freel, Wang, Garretson, Buehler), 1:42.82; 6. Edgewood (Venegas, Woodcock, Gill, Vagedes), 1:49.74.

400 freestyle relay (3:36.46): 1. Bloomington South (Eakin, Marchionne, Seidenfaden, Asplund), 3:43.42; 2. Columbus East, 3:53.80; 3. East Central, 3:54.88; 5. Bloomington North (Garretson, deWeber, Covey, Thies), 3:59.43; 6. Edgewood (Gill, Venegas, Lewis, Vagedes), 4:04.41.

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

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South overpowers field at IHSAA girls swimming sectional