Aaron Shackell, Will Modglin star as Carmel, Zionsville go 1-2 in boys swimming finals
Swimmers from Carmel and Zionsville took down state and national records at this weekend’s IHSAA boys swimming and diving state finals.
Carmel won its ninth straight state championship, tallying 363 points Saturday at the IU Natatorium to 257 for the Eagles, who were the runners-up for the second straight year.
Two weeks after his sister, Alex, was a part of four record-setting swims in the Carmel girls' 37th consecutive state championship, senior Aaron Shackell nearly matched the feat with four wins, a state record, and a national record of his own.
Shackell’s dominant victory in the 200 freestyle — where he finished in 1:33.68 — was just short of the senior Cal commit’s record-setting race in Friday’s prelims, where he won in 1:32.85 to break Carson Foster’s 2019 national mark of 1:32.99 and the 1:33.30 state mark set in 2017 by former Greyhound and Olympian Drew Kibler.
Shackell helped the Greyhounds win the championship meet’s first race as the third leg of Carmel’s 200-yard medley relay team. Carmel trailed Zionsville by 9/10ths of a second halfway through the race, but when Shackell finished his leg, the Greyhounds were ahead by nearly a second-and-a-half.
“I kind of knew that was coming,” Shackell said with a smile. “That felt pretty good.”
Shackell then won the 500 free in 4:15.38 and anchored the Greyhounds’ winning 400 free relay squad (2:59.52).
“He’s an incredible difference maker,” said Carmel coach Chris Plumb.
As the realization of the victory set in, Plumb became emotional as he recalled Carmel junior Michael Jent, a member of the team, who died in a car accident in January.
“Just their resiliency with the amount of things they’ve endured,” Plumb said of his pride in the team coming together.
Death of Carmel swimmer Michael Jent: His proudest moment in the pool would be his last
Carmel senior Sean Sullivan was the other Greyhounds individual winner, repeating as champion of the 100 free in 44.09.
“Out of my four years at Carmel, this would have to be the strongest team we’ve had,” said Sullivan, a University of Florida commit.
Zionsville senior Will Modglin also set a national record of 45.08 seconds in Friday’s 100 backstroke preliminaries, breaking the 12-year-old 45.34-second mark of four-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy. Modglin won his third consecutive state title in the event Saturday in 45.69.
Modglin also three-peated and broke his own state record of 1:44.10 set last year in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:43.74. He then led off Zionsville’s 200 free relay team of Walker Mattice, Gabe Berry and Will Raches, which set a state mark of 1:20.53, breaking Carmel’s 2017 record of 1:21.21.
“Breaking the national record in the 100 back was awesome,” said Modglin, a Texas commit. “But the most meaningful for me was the 200 free relay. We were all really hyped about that at the beginning of the year. We did a couple of test runs and we thought we could come out here and beat it. We were just happy our dreams came true with that.”
Hamilton Heights juniors Ethan Swart and Nathan Cox placed first and second, respectively, in the 1-meter diving competition.
“It’s crazy how two people from a school not many people know of can be among the best in the state,” Swart said.
“We’ve been best friends ever since sixth grade,” added Cox. “We push each other to become the best we can be.”
2023 IHSAA boys swimming and diving state finals
Team scores: 1. Carmel, 363; 2. Zionsville, 257; 3. Carroll (Fort Wayne), 150; 4. Fishers, 148; 5. North Central, 130; 6. South Bend Riley, 120; 7. Homestead, 93; 8. Penn, 86; 9. Bloomington North, 84; 10. Chesterton, 75.5/
Event winners
200 medley relay: Carmel – Sean Sullivan, Brandon Malicki, Aaron Shackell, Michael Gorey (1:27.83)
200 free: Aaron Shackell, Carmel (1:33.68)
200 IM: Will Modglin, Zionsville (1:43.74)*
50 free: Matthew Klinge, Harrison-West Lafayette (19.95)
1-meter diving: Ethan Swart, Hamilton Heights (512.15)
100 fly: Matthew Klinge, Harrison-West Lafayette (47.90)
100 free: Sean Sullivan, Carmel (44.09)
500 free: Aaron Shackell, Carmel (4:15.35)
200 free relay: Zionsville – Will Modglin, Walker Mattice, Gabe Berry, Will Raches (1:20.53)*
100 back: Will Modglin, Zionsville (45.69)
100 breast: Adam McCurdy, Carroll-Fort Wayne (54.69)
400 free relay: Carmel – Andrew Shackell, Gregg Enoch, AJ Robertson, Aaron Shackell (2:59.52)
* state record
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana boys swimming state finals: Carmel wins 9th straight title
