Valley qualifies No. 1 in 200 free relay at Warsaw sectional prelims

Culver’s Lute qualifies 2nd in 200 free, 4th in 500 free

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Tippecanoe Valley 200 freestyle relay team qualified first at the Warsaw sectional preliminaries Thursday, and three members of that team also qualified for the finals in an individual event.

Meanwhile, Culver senior Hayden Lute qualified for the finals in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.

No swimmers from Rochester or Pioneer advanced to an individual final, but the Rochester 200 medley relay and the Pioneer 200 freestyle relay teams both advanced to Saturday’s final.

The Valley 200 freestyle relay team consists of freshman Alayna Parker, junior Bailey Anderson, sophomore Mya Drudge and freshman Abigail Heckaman. Their time of 1:49.11 was 1.66 seconds faster than No. 2 qualifier Culver Academy. Anderson and Drudge return from last year’s team that swam a 1:56.37 and finished fifth.

Culver Academy swam a 1:42.96 last year and is the defending sectional champion.

Parker and Heckaman both qualified for the finals in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, and Anderson also qualified for the final in the 50 freestyle.

Parker qualified third in both events while Heckaman qualified fourth in the 50 free and sixth in the 100 free. Anderson qualified eighth in the 50 free.

In addition, sophomore Sophia Becker qualified sixth in the 100 backstroke in 1:09.37 and also moved on to the finals.

A team consisting of Anderson, Claire Haney, Malia Kreft and Drudge also qualified sixth in the 400 freestyle relay. Becker, Heckaman, Parker and Anderson made up the 200 medley relay team that qualified fourth in 2:01.16.

While the Valley sprinters advanced, so did Culver’s distance veteran Lute, an Albion College recruit.

Lute’s clocking of 2:06.56 in the 200 freestyle put her 0.69 seconds behind top qualifier Matilda Granger of Warsaw. Lute also swam a 5:52.59 in the 500 freestyle and qualified behind Columbia City’s Erin Devito, Granger and Plymouth’s Kathryn Morrison. Devito was the pacesetter with a 5:39.92.

Rochester’s 200 medley relay team consists of Summer Tyler (backstroke), Lily Chipps (breaststroke), Audrey Widman (butterfly) and Aubrey Miller (freestyle). They qualified in 2:25.09, which was good for eighth. Columbia City was the top qualifier in 1:58.18.

Miller also qualified for the consolation race in the 50 free, and sophomore teammate Riplee Snyder qualified for the consolation race in the 500 freestyle in 6:34.19.

Pioneer’s 200 freestyle relay team qualified fifth in 1:55.44, which was 6.33 seconds behind Valley. The team consists of senior Cailyn Colford, freshman Kenley Jasmantas, freshman Lavana Tolosa and senior Aspen Moolenaar.

Colford made the consolation races in both the 50 free and 100 backstroke, Jasmantas made the consolation in the 100 free and 100 breaststroke, freshman Molly Webber made the consolation in the 500 free, and freshman Camryn Lowry made the consolation in the 100 breaststroke.

Diving preliminaries start at 9 a.m. Saturday. Swimming and diving finals start at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Sectional champions plus those meeting a difficult state qualifying standard will advance to the state finals in the swimming events plus those among the top 32 in their event who did not meet either of the first two criteria. The top four divers advance to the diving regional at Mishawaka at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

WARSAW GIRLS SWIMMING SECTIONAL PRELIMINARIES

Top eight in each event qualify for finals, 9th-16th qualify for consolation, 17th-18th are alternates

Top qualifiers plus all Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley, Pioneer and Culver results

200 MEDLEY RELAY

1. Columbia City (Oelschlager, Joseph, Devito, Schaekel) – 1:58.18, 4. Valley (Sophia Becker, Abigail Heckaman, Alayna Parker, Bailey Anderson) – 2:01.16 (finals), 8. Rochester (Summer Tyler, Lily Chipps, Audrey Widman, Aubrey Miller) – 2:25.09 (finals), 9. Pioneer (Kalyn Wooten, Camryn Lowry, Mykah Holcomb, Olivia Fisher) – 2:39.96 (consolation)

200 FREESTYLE

1. Granger (WAR) – 2:05.87, 2. Hayden Lute (CUL) – 2:06.56 (finals), 14. Mya Drudge (TV) – 2:20.03 (consolation), 17. Riplee Snyder (RHS) – 2:23.73 (alternate), 18. Claire Haney (TV) – 2:25.44 (consolation)

DID NOT ADVANCE

19. Molly Webber (PIO) – 2:27.09, 24. Whitney Reed (PIO) – 2:35.22, 27. Summer Tyler (RHS) – 2:44.67, 28. Alayna Jones (RHS) – 3:17.59

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

1. Joseph (CC) – 2:19.19, 14. Cassie Rich (TV) – 2:55.14 (consolation), 18. Lucy Bowditch (PIO) – 2:57.94 (alternate)

DID NOT ADVANCE

19. Camryn Lowry (PIO) – 3:02.61, 20. Audrey Widman (RHS) – 3:06.98, 21. McKenna Lowe (TV) – 3:08.99, 22. Layla Tyler (RHS) – 3:21.26, 23. Jenna Seuferer (RHS) – 3:24.80

50 FREESTYLE

1. Stevens (WAR) – 25.03 seconds, 3. Alayna Parker (TV) – 26.17 (finals), 4. Abigail Heckaman (TV) – 26.68 (finals), 8. Bailey Anderson (TV) – 27.32 (finals), 14. Aubrey Miller (RHS) – 28.13 (consolation), 16. Cailyn Colford (PIO) – 28.45 (consolation)

DID NOT ADVANCE

19. Aspen Moolenaar (PIO) – 29.37, 24. Lily Chipps (RHS) – 31.22, 32. Olivia Fisher (PIO) – 37.53, 35. Savannah Wolters (RHS) – 44.54

100 BUTTERFLY

1. Devito (CC) – 1:00.95, 17. Whitney Reed (PIO) – 1:22.42 (alternate), 18. Malia Kreft (TV) – 1:23.47 (alternate)

DID NOT ADVANCE

19. Audrey Widman (RHS) – 1:25.47, 20. Cassie Rich (TV) – 1:25.59, 23. Ava Beasy (PIO) – 1:30.73, 26. Mykah Holcomb (PIO) – 1:39.42, 27. Layla Tyler (RHS) – 1:40.15, 28. Jenna Seuferer (RHS) – 1:43.24

100 FREESTYLE

1. Cumberland (MAN) – 56.83 seconds, 3. Alayna Parker (TV) – 58.71 (finals), 6. Abigail Heckaman (TV) – 59.87 (finals), 11. Kenley Jasmantas (PIO) – 1:02.58 (consolation), 12. Mya Drudge (TV) – 1:02.87 (consolation)

DID NOT ADVANCE

19. Aubrey Miller (RHS) – 1:06.21, 27. Ellie Hines (PIO) – 1:13.22, 31. Kalyn Wooten (PIO) – 1:17.22

500 FREESTYLE

1. Devito (CC) – 5:39.92, 4. Hayden Lute (CUL) – 5:52.59 (finals), 15. Riplee Snyder (RHS) – 6:34.19 (consolation), 16. Molly Webber (PIO) – 6:37.59 (consolation)

DID NOT ADVANCE

20. McKenna Lowe (TV) – 7:11.15

200 FREESTYLE RELAY

1. Valley (Alayna Parker, Bailey Anderson, Mya Drudge, Abigail Heckaman) – 1:49.11, 5. Pioneer (Cailyn Colford, Kenley Jasmantas, Lavana Tolosa, Aspen Moolenaar) – 1:55.44, 9. Rochester (Audrey Widman, Riplee Snyder, Summer Tyler, Aubrey Miller) – 2:02.49 (consolation)

100 BACKSTROKE

1. Liu (CGA) – 1:03.21, 6. Sophia Becker (TV) – 1:09.37 (finals), 12. Cailyn Colford (PIO) – 1:13.27 (consolation), 18. Lavana Tolosa (PIO) – 1:21.96 (alternate)

DID NOT ADVANCE

22. Summer Tyler (RHS) – 1:27.02, 24. Maris Overbey (TV) – 1:27.69, 25. Briley Lowe (TV) – 1:27.75, 26. Bella Scales (PIO) – 1:34.07, 27. Alayna Jones (RHS) – 1:48.04, 28. Savannah Wolters (RHS) – 2:12.06

100 BREASTSTROKE

1. Joseph (CC) – 1:09.13, 12. Kenley Jasmantas (PIO) – 1:24.60 (consolation), 15. Camryn Lowry (PIO) – 1:29.04 (consolation), 17. Adel Cerna (TV) – 1:29.83 (alternate), t-18. Lucy Bowditch (PIO) – 1:30.07 (alternate)

DID NOT ADVANCE

20. Lily Chipps (RHS) – 1:30.98, DQ. Lucy Sampsel (TV)

400 FREESTYLE RELAY

1. Columbia City (Oelschlager, L. Joseph, C. Joseph, Devito) – 3:54.87, 6. Valley (Bailey Anderson, Claire Haney, Malia Kreft, Mya Drudge) – 4:20.59 (finals), 9. Pioneer (Kenley Jasmantas, Lavana Tolosa, Aspen Moolenaar, Cailyn Colford) – 4:29.32 (consolation), 10. Rochester (Riplee Snyder, Layla Tyler, Jenna Seuferer, Lily Chipps) – 5:13.41 (consolation)