Freel ends North medal drought at girls' state swim finals

Ashley Freel made history Saturday afternoon and the smile on her face reflected that like the water in the Indiana University Natatorium pool.

The Bloomington North junior grabbed her first state medal, finishing sixth in the 100 backstroke at the IHSAA girls' state swimming and diving championships on Saturday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Freel didn't quite match her school record time from the prelims (56.57) but came close at 56.99 to hang on to her seed position. Carmel's Berit Berglund won the title by ridiculous three seconds with a 51.80. Most of the area's competitors had a tough time matching their sectional performances, but not Freel, who broke two school records on Friday and came back for more rewards.

"There's nothing like that goal of making top eight and that first time breaking into that," North coach Taylor McGregor said. "That's the thing I really noticed the most is that she was able to handle it mentally and use her nerves to drive her and give her that extra fight and throw down a great race that was better than last year.

"To throw together really two awsome races like that, you can't ask for better. At the preliminary session, we were locking in on that top eight in the back, so it was a big relief and a happy moment for her."

It was part of a historic day state for the Cougars, who were 18th with 26 points, their most since scoring 29 in 2005. Even bigger, Freel is North's first medalist since diver Ashley Carnes was sixth in 2005 and first swimming medalist since Kassidy Kichner was eighth in the 50 free in 2004. No North swimmer has done better since Megan Richardson was fifth in the breaststroke in 1999.

Freel was also 10th in the 100 butterfly in 56.28, again just a bit slower than the school record 55.73 in prelims (it took a 55.62 to claim eighth), but she also moved up from an 11th seed to 10th.

"She really wanted it in the 100 fly, but that event was really fast and she was just outside of it," McGregor said. "But the smile on her face, when she realized she was in the top eight in the 100 back, was great to see with all the work she put in."

North seniors finish strong

Freel started off her day with a 25.32 fly leg for the senior laden 200 medley relay, which took 14th in 1:48.98. Annie Murer and Lucy Mitchell had the first two legs and Karen Tabbal went 24.07 to finish up.

"The relay snuck into the 14th spot and Annie had a great 50 back in the prelims to help us stay close to what we had done at sectionals," McGregor said. "That relay has swam together for three years now and they wanted to come in blazing it. It's not quite the (school) record but they were just happy to get together for another chance to swim.

"Karen was really close to that 24.0 she was shooting for and Lucy ended up with three state swims (in the breaststroke) so that was a cool way to cap it off. It was nice to see her drop time at state."

South finishes up

Bloomington South had just one swimming finalist with senior Alex Eakin going 5:08.58 to take 16th in the 500 freestyle and score the Panthers' lone point of the meet. It did extend their streak of scoring at state to 10 years.

"Alex had a great attitude this weekend," South coach (and Alex's mom) Annie Eakin said. "Being that it's her third year at the meet, her experience got her through where she could find space and feel comfortable and confident, and most of all enjoy it not be intimidated."

For South's qualifiers, Friday's preliminaries were a tough follow to their sectional performances.

"That's kind of how it goes," Annie Eakin said. "It's always hard to go faster the next week after the tapering and the preparation the week before sectional."

Going through it will help the freshmen, sophomores and juniors who hope to be back next year, including Anna Asplund, who had to five events on Friday, the four she expected, medley relay, 100 free, back and 400 free relay, and then another 100 free in a swim-off after trying for 16th.

"(They) learned a lot and it's going to be better next year," Annie Eakin said. "Anna swam five times on Friday and that's a lot. But she fought through and did an amazing job."

The Panthers also saw senior diver Carina Jacobson take 20th in 248.05. She just squeezed into the semifinals (top 20), by finishing 19th in the five-dive prelims with a 168.95. She was 27th last year.

"Carina has been friends with my kids for a while so I've enjoyed watching her progress and move into diving fully over the last few years," Annie Eakin said. "I'm happy she did make that first cut. She'll be an inspiration to our other diving teammates."

Carmel wins again

Carmel won 37th straight state title with a finals record 498 points and winning a record 10 of 12 events, one more than the 2015 and 2016-Grayhound teams. Carmel set five state records in the preliminaries and broke four of them in the finals. Two were national records in the 200 medley and 200 free relays.

Fishers was second at 233 and Penn third at 156.

IHSAA STATE GIRLS' SWIM MEET

Top team scores: 1. Carmel 498; 2. Fishers 233; 3. Penn 156; 4. Hamilton Southeastern 148; 5. Zionsville 141; 6. Concord 129½; 7. Wawasee 121; 8. FW Carroll 115; 9. Center Grove 91; 10. Castle 73½. 18. Bloomington North 26; 42. Bloomington South 1.

50 freestyle: 1. Alex Shackell, Carm, 21.93 (state record; old record 22.05, Shackell, prelims); 2. Lily Christianson, Penn, 22.02; 3. Julie Mishler, Waw, 22.88. 100 freestyle: 1. Christianson, Penn, 48.59; 2. Berit Berglund, Carm, 49.09; 3. Mishler, Waw, 50.16. 200 freestyle: 1. Lynsey Bowen, Carm, 1:46.25; 2. Alex Ward, Carm, 1:48.56; 3. Josephine Ramey, Fish, 1:48.61. 500 freestyle: 1. Bowen, Carm, 4:42.81 (meet record; old record, 4:43.42, Bowen, prelims); 2. Ward, Carm, 4:46.36; 3. Ramey, Fish, 4:50.15. (16. Alex Eakin, BSouth, 5:08.58). 100 backstroke: 1. Berglund, Carm, 51.80; 2. Keira Kask, Carm, 54.78; 3. Molly Simmons, Z, 54.96; 6. Ashley Freel, BNorth, 56.99. 100 breaststroke: 1. Molly Sweeney, Carm, 59.78; 2. Vivian Wilson, Carm, 1:01.54; 3. Lucy Enoch, Carm, 1:02.85. 100 butterfly: 1. Shackell, Carm, 50.89 (state record; old record, 51.16, Shackell, prelims); 2. Audrey Crawford, HSE, 53.56; 3. Kask, Carm, 54.40. (10. Freel, BNorth, 56.28). 200 individual medley: 1. Sweeney, Carm, 1:56.82; 2. Crawford, HSE, 1:59.87; 3. Wilson, Carm, 2:01.66. Diving: 1. Mia Peusiecki, CG, 478.30; 2. Amelia Rinehart, FW Snider, 466.70; 3. Simone Hall, Park Tudor, 463.10.

200 medley relay: 1. Carmel, 1:36.98 (state record; old record, 1:38.51, Carmel, prelims); 2. Penn, 1:41.91; 3. Fishers, 1:42.83. (14. Bloomington North (Annie Murer, Lucy Mitchell, Freel, Karen Tabbal, 1:48.98). 200 freestyle relay: 1. Carmel, 1:30.23 (state record; old record, 1:30.72, Carmel, 2015); 2. Penn, 1:33.58; 3. Wawasee, 1:34.71. 400 freestyle relay: 1. Carmel, 3:21.84; 2. Fishers, 3:26.40; 3. Hamilton Southeastern, 3:27.37.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Freel ends North medal drought at girls' state swim finals