Wide-Open Battle Looms at Indiana Boys High School Championships

By Owen V. Johnson

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, February 22. ALL those little things that coaches always teach – good turns, finishing all the way to the wall, etc. – could decide this weekend's Indiana high school boys swimming championships. Any of four or five teams could come away with the title.

Hamilton Southeastern led the final state poll, which is based on swimmers' best times from the top 20 returnees from last year's state meet or this year's regular season competition. The Royals' final margin was 47 points.

But if you score the sectional final times of the swimmers entered in this week's state meet, two-time defending champion North Central is the leader by about 30 points, even though it graduated some of its top swimmers. Chesterton and Homestead were numbers three and four in the final state poll, but they both had less competition in their sectionals so are more likely to be tapering for state.

Carmel, which finished seventh in the final state poll, swam a great sectional, and could move up, but the Greyhounds are in the same sectional as North Central, so perhaps they had to taper more for the sectional.

Almost every individual race is up for grabs, too. Outstanding individual swimmers could edge past swimmers from the more dominant schools and significantly affect the outcome of the meet.

Then there's diving, the scoring of which is psychologically challenging for swim fans to handicap. A diver can be up one day and down the next. Some of the divers have little experience performing in the spacious Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, where the swimming and diving finals will be held.

The regional diving scores aren't seeded because they were accomplished with different sets of judges.

For the record, Homestead and Munster each have two divers in the state finals and Carmel and North Central one each.

Swimming prelims get underway at 6 p.m. Friday, and diving prelims at 9 a.m. Saturday. Finals start at 1 p.m., Saturday.

Senior Michael Christy of North Central is back to defend his titles in both the individual medley and the backstroke. His 1:52.37 leads everyone else by two seconds. Last year he went 49.86 to win the backstroke. This year he'd love to surpass the record of 49.12, now held by former Jeffersonville swimmer Ben Hesen, who last week set the Big Ten record in the event while swimming for Indiana University.

Freshman Kyle Whitaker of Chesterton, brother of Taylor Whitaker, who won two events in the women's state championships two weeks ago, could make the IM race exciting. Although he's seeded third, he has recorded the fastest time in the state this year at 1:52.08.

Whitaker also had the fastest butterfly time in the state this year at 51.14, but Bremen junior Jon Hueni surprised a lot of people last week in winning his sectional in 50.71. Pat Augustyn, a Highland senior, is the fastest returnee from last year at 50.74.

The 50-yard freestyle, where there's no room for error, could be a great race. Fastest in the state this year and the fastest qualifier is Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran's Tyler Lemert. Seeded at 21.41, he'd like to take the gold medal with him to Bloomington next year where he'll swim for the Hoosiers and Coach Ray Looze.

Lemert is also one of the favorites in the breaststroke, where he went 56.50 last year and did 56.67 this year in sectionals. Many Indiana swimming enthusiasts would love to see him take down the longest-standing state record, 55.33, set by Chesterton's Jeff McDaniel 15 years ago. He'll get a challenge from sophomore Chris Johnson, the top seed, and Andrew Kaminski, who is the second fastest returnee and is seeded third.

Christopher Riley of South Bend Riley, who last year went 21.22, the fastest returning time, is seeded 11th.

Ben Wachtel of Westfield is seeded first in the 100 free at 46.05, while Andrew Elliott of Penn, who had the fastest regular season time at 46.41, is seeded 7th.

Elliott could also be a major player in the 200, where he has the second fastest returning time at 1:42.26. Ahead of him is the fastest returnee, Alex Ismail of Zionsville at 1:41.98. The top seed is again Wachtel at 1:41.88.

North Central has three swimmers seeded in the top eight of the 500 free. If they hold their positions, the Panthers would strengthen their state champion chances. Best among the three is Drew Minturn, who is seeded second. Drew Wolfred of Noblesville would like to end his high school career with a victory. He has the top regular season time.

The top seed in the 500 is Samuel Trahin of Fort Wayne Carroll, who was ranked third. The top returning time goes to Billy Bass of Chesterton at 4:36.43. He'll be well rested and will definitely improve on his 4:43.52 sectional time.

In a meet as close as this one, the relays could be decisive. A long exchange could be costly; a missed one a disaster. North Central is seeded first in the medley relay at 1:35.20, half a second ahead of Carmel. Hamilton Southeastern, fastest in the regular season, is seeded third.

Homestead, number two in the state rankings, is seeded first in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:27.23 with North Central second and Carmel third. Season leader Hamilton Southeastern enters the meet number 5. Given widely different tapers, however, this one will be a dogfight and thus hard to call.

Homestead is also seeded number one in the 400-freestyle relay with a 3:11.14, after having the fifth fastest regular season time. North Central is seeded second and was second in the regular season. Hamilton Southeastern, fastest in the state during the regular season by five one-hundredths of a second over North Central, is seeded fifth.

This meet is close enough that it could be decided in that final relay.

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