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Pioneer’s Chan takes 2nd in 100 breaststroke; Valley finishes 8th behind Craig, Smith
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Elena Bode finished fifth in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 100 freestyle and helped lead Rochester to a fifth-place finish at the Warsaw girls swimming sectional
Monday.
Rochester scored 186 points. Bode was partially or solely responsible for 81 of those points.
Among other area teams, Tippecanoe Valley scored 131 points and finished eighth in the 12-team field, and Pioneer scored 126 points and placed ninth.
Culver Academy won the sectional title with 407 points. Warsaw, who had won the sectional four of the previous five years, settled for second with 394.
Rochester
Bode was the only Rochester swimmer to qualify for an individual final.
Her time of 58.48 seconds in the 100 freestyle was 0.63 seconds faster than her preliminary time on Saturday. Her time of 1:16.39 in the 100 breaststroke bested her prelim time by 0.22 seconds.
Rochester also qualified for the finals in all three relays.
The 200 medley relay, which consisted of Molly Vance-Gruss, Bode, Bella Riffle and Kendyll Bradley, was seventh in 2:08.28. The 200 freestyle relay, which consisted of Bradley, Madilyn Calloway, Melody Hisey and Bode, was fourth in 1:51.99. The 400 freestyle relay, which consisted of Hisey, Lola Brady, Vance-Gruss and Calloway, slashed 17.2 seconds off its prelim time and placed sixth in 4:24.00.
Among other Lady Z swimmers:
Vance-Gruss was 14th in the 200 freestyle and 11th in the 100 backstroke,
Riffle was 13th in the 200 individual medley and ninth in the 100 butterfly,
Bradley was 13th in the 50 freestyle to go with her seventh-place finish in diving from Saturday,
Calloway was 15th in the 50 freestyle in the 500 freestyle,
and Hisey was ninth in the 100 freestyle and 16th in the 100 backstroke.
Rochester finished fifth at the sectional for the second straight year. The team’s best finish at a sectional under coach Stephanie Brown was a second-place finish in 2015.
Maddy Brouyette finished third in diving on Saturday and will compete at the Valparaiso diving regional at 6 p.m. Eastern Tuesday. Ava Thomas was ninth.
Tippecanoe Valley
Kendall Craig, a sophomore who specializes in the distance freestyle events, was the lone Valley swimmer to reach the finals in multiple events. She was eighth in 2:13.33 in the 200 freestyle, chipping off 1.41 seconds from her prelim time, and she was also seventh in the 500 freestyle in 6:01.17, a 2.49-second improvement from Saturday.
Makena Smith, a junior, was seventh in the 100 breaststroke in 1:18.26. It was a 1.42-second improvement from her prelim time and a 0.03-second improvement from her 2021 sectional final time, where she finished eighth.
In the consolation rounds, Smith also placed ninth in the 200 individual medley in 2:34.45 while junior Olivia Wilson was 13th in the 100 backstroke in 1:15.72.
Craig and Smith also formed half of the 400 freestyle relay, which was the only Valley relay to qualify for the finals. The team, which also included Wilson and senior Maddie Woodward, placed fifth in 4:20.53 and cut its prelim time by over 14 seconds.
Ella Myers and Lydia Miller finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in diving on Saturday.
Valley’s eighth-place finish was one notch below their seventh-place showing in both 2020 and 2021. Those seventh-place finishes were their best showings at the sectional over the last decade.
“Overall, it was a great meet,” Valley coach Katelyn Bradley said in a statement. “I am extremely proud of the work and dedication these girls have put in. It clearly shows in meets like these.”
Pioneer
Lady Panther sophomore Chloe Chan was the highest-placing of any RTC area swimmers in an individual event, taking second in 1:10.87 in the 100 breaststroke.
Chan was also second in the 100 breaststroke last year in 1:12.11.
Columbia City’s Emma Johnson, who was sixth in last year’s sectional breaststroke, earned the state spot this time in 1:10.87.
Chloe Chan also took ninth in the 50 freestyle in 27.22 seconds.
Emily Chan, a senior, was the other Pioneer swimmer to qualify for an individual final, and she placed eighth in the 100 freestyle in 1:00.53, a 0.24-second improvement from her prelim time on Saturday. Emily Chan also placed 10th in 2:37.97 in the 200 individual medley.
The only Pioneer relay to reach the finals was the 400 freestyle relay. That team, which consisted of Mackenzie Robinson, Anna Shewalter, Chloe Chan and Emily Chan, took fourth in 4:17.01 after an eight-second time drop from its prelim time.
Pioneer’s 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams both finished ninth. The 200 medley relay consisted of Robinson, Chloe Chan, Emily Chan and Shewalter. The 200 freestyle relay consisted of Ayla Depoy, Lane Hood, Shewalter and Adeline Cripe.
Other Pioneer swimmers participating in consolation races included Adeline Cripe, who was 16th in the 200 freestyle and 16th in the 500 freestyle; and Robinson, who was 14th in the 100 backstroke.
Lane Hood and Gracie Clem finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in Saturday’s diving competition.
Culver
Arwen Kornblith, a sophomore and the one-person team representing Culver at the sectional, finished 20th in the 200 individual medley and 23rd in the 100 breaststroke.
Those sectional champions in all non-diving events earned automatic berths at the IHSAA state finals, which begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
Swimmers could also earn a state spot by meeting a difficult state qualifying standard. No swimmer or relay team met that standard on Monday.
WARSAW GIRLS SWIMMING SECTIONAL RESULTS
Culver Academy 407, Warsaw 394, Plymouth 305, Lewis Cass 189, Rochester 186, Logansport 152, Columbia City 138, Tippecanoe Valley 131, Pioneer 126, Manchester 109, Oregon-Davis 35, Northfield 27, Culver 0
Scoring on 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for individual events and 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22-18-14-12-10 basis for relays
Winners plus all Rochester, Valley and Pioneer results
200 medley relay
1. Warsaw (Doyle, Marcuccilli, Malagon, Howett) – 1:56.87, 7. Rochester (Molly Vance-Gruss, Elena Bode, Bella Riffle, Kendyll Bradley) – 2:08.28, 9. Pioneer (Mackenzie Robinson, Chloe Chan, Emily Chan, Anna Shewalter) – 2:11.72, 10. Valley (Olivia Wilson, Alejandra Jimenez, Makena Smith, Kendall Craig) – 2:18.20
200 freestyle
1. Baber (LC) – 1:56.65, 8. Kendall Craig (TV) – 2:13.33, 14. Molly Vance-Gruss (RHS) – 2:28.73, 16. Adeline Cripe (PIO) – 2:32.68
200 individual medley
1. Briner (MAN) – 2:19.60, 9. Makena Smith (TV) – 2:34.45, 10. Emily Chan (PIO) – 2:37.97, 13. Bella Riffle (RHS) – 2:47.23
50 freestyle
1. Marcuccilli (WAR) – 25.57 seconds, 9. Chloe Chan (PIO) – 27.22, 13. Kendyll Bradley (RHS) – 28.42, 15. Madilyn Calloway (RHS) – 28.48
Diving (top four advance to regional)
1. Feick (CGA) – 475.05 points, 2. Fincher (LOG) – 300.65, 3. Maddy Brouyette (RHS) – 287.65, 4. Hauptmann (PLY) – 280.85, 5. Ella Myers (TV) – 278.90, 6. Lydia Miller (TV) – 256.35, 7. Kendyll Bradley (RHS) – 244.45, 9. Ava Thomas (RHS) – 208.75, 11. Lane Hood (PIO) – 194.90, 12. Gracie Clem (PIO) – 184.05
100 butterfly
1. Zhang (CGA) – 1:00.99, 9. Bella Riffle (RHS) – 1:11.76
100 freestyle
1. Howett (WAR) – 54.97 seconds, 6. Elena Bode (RHS) – 58.48, 8. Emily Chan (PIO) – 1:00.53, 9. Melody Hisey (RHS) – 1:00.75
500 freestyle
1. Baber (LC) – 5:23.42, 7. Kendall Craig (TV) – 6:01.17, 13. Madilyn Calloway (RHS) – 6:44.36, 16. Adeline Cripe (PIO) – 7:03.01
200 freestyle relay
1. Culver Academy (Teglia, Shafeek-Horton, Gifford, Heim) – 1:42.53, 4. Rochester (Kendyll Bradley, Madilyn Calloway, Melody Hisey, Elena Bode) – 1:51.99, 9. Pioneer (DePoy, Hood, Shewalter, Cripe) – 2:01.83, 10. Valley (Alejandra Jimenez, Lydia Miller, Ella Myers, Maddie Woodward) – 2:02.26
100 backstroke
1. Teglia (CGA) – 1:02.21, 11. Molly Vance-Gruss (RHS) – 1:14.77, 13. Olivia Wilson (TV) – 1:15.72, 14. Mackenzie Robinson (PIO) – 1:17.83, 16. Melody Hisey (RHS) – 1:20.27
100 breaststroke
1. Johnson (CC) – 1:10.87, 2. Chloe Chan (PIO) – 1:11.95, 5. Elena Bode (RHS) – 1:16.39, 7. Makena Smith (TV) – 1:18.26
400 freestyle relay
1. Culver Academy (Teglia, Shafeek-Horton, Zhang, Heim) – 3:48.34, 4. Pioneer (Mackenzie Robinson, Anna Shewalter, Chloe Chan, Emily Chan) – 4:17.01, 5. Valley (Kendall Craig, Olivia Wilson, Maddie Woodward, Makena Smith) – 4:20.53, 6. Rochester (Melody Hisey, Lola Brady, Molly Vance-Gruss, Madilyn Calloway) – 4:24.00
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