NLC Peppers Swim State Finals
By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews
INDIANAPOLIS – The Northern Lakes Conference showed well at the IHSAA Girls Swim State Finals.
Three of its members scored points in the meet, led by Northridge’s 11th place team finish and Concord two places back in 13th.
Highlighting Northridge’s day was a 3-4 finish from its divers Kaitlin Simons and Jiselle Miller. Simons scored a 499.75 and Miller was right behind at 476.80 to start the day, and Concord’s Ryleigh Robinson broke into the final series to place 14th. A former NLC coach, Joe Keller, had his Fishers diver Morgan Casey win the title.
Sydney Nethercutt won the consolation round of the 200 free, posting 1:51.86 for ninth overall and later was 10th in the 500 free. Teammate Hailey Clark was 15th in the 500 and Anna Yeater was 14th in the breaststroke.
Ridge had its three relays place 10, 11 and 12, and Concord had it’s relays go 16, 14 and 10 in the respective standings for the medley, 200 free and 400 free.
Concord had the highest overall swim placement, Grace Brenneman posting a 23.29 to take fifth in the 50 free and later timing 51.04 in the 100 free to take seventh overall. Kiran Stauffer was 11th in the butterfly and 16th in the 200 free.
Concord head coach Tom Johnson was voted by his peers at the IHSAA Coach of the Year.
Wawasee had one swimmer active on Saturday, Alexis Mishler swimming a 24.03 to place 11th in the 50 free. Mishler had timed 24.14 on Friday in the prelims.
Of note from around the area, Bremen’s Kaia Podlin was 11th in both the butterfly and the breaststroke. Penn’s Lilian Christianson won the 50 free championship at 22.66 and St. Joe’s Mary Pruitt won her third straight 500 free title, running away at 4:45.73.
Per expectation, Carmel continued its national record for consecutive state championships, blowing out the field once again to claim its 35th team title with 479 points, Keller and Fishers winning the ‘other title’ with 200 points. St. Joe was eighth and Penn was tenth among the team standings.