North 'Super Soph' Jay Stewart leads the way at Conference Indiana boys' swim meet
The sophomore class has certainly gotten out of the blocks well when it comes to Conference Indiana boys' swimming.
That group was responsible for six individual titles at last Saturday's league meet. The only senior to win was Bloomington North diver Max Miller, who also jumped in the swimming pool to help win a relay title for the Cougars.
Leading the Super Sophs was North's Jay Stewart, who repeated as champ in the 100 butterfly in a meet record 50.48 (old mark was 50.51), which was .01 better than he did at the state finals last year. Instead of doing the backstroke this year, he decided to switch to the 50 freestyle and roared to the title with a 21.34, which also broke the CI record (21.45).
He also went 24.02 in the back to open for the winning 200 medley relay and capped the meet with a 46.98 anchor leg for the 400 free relay, which completed a Cougar sweep of the relays for the second year in a row.
"I was very impressed with Jay," North coach Max Irwin said. "He brings lot of talent to the table and the fact that he was still able to go best times mid-season, that's very impressive and bodes well for later. He's a monster in the weight room and that strength transfers well in the 50 free and 100 fly on his push offs on the wall and he has good underwaters.
"He approached me about (doing the 50) after he had a 21.6 at Bedford. That's a pretty good time so I was open to him doing that at conference. That 21.3 would have been 10th at state last year, so I'll definitely have to do some thinking about where to focus his efforts for sectional."
Stewart had good company with Bloomington South's David Kovacs winning the 200 IM (1:54.28) by almost nine seconds over Terre Haute South sophomore Connor Lauritzen, and taking the 10 backstroke in a CI record 50.62 (old mark 52.12) by a similar margin over North freshman Alex Madiera (58.41). He also posted a 23.71 and 47.28 on the same relays legs as Stewart.
South's Lukas Paegle also shined with a meet best 22.93 breaststroke led for the MR, a 22.13 for second in the 50 free and a 51.93 for runner-up in the fly. The Panthers also saw Botund Kun win the 500 in his first CI meet in 4:55.42 over North sophomore and defending champ Ty Mayer (career best 5:00.08) and South's Kian Kadlec, a sophomore who was also second in the 200 free (1:51.03). Botund was fourth in the fly.
Sophs grabbed fourth and fifth in the IM (North's Luke Miller, South's Leo Nelson) and South's 400 free relay was all sophomores, going 3:19.50 for second and the Panthers used just one senior and three sophs on its other two relays.
North juniors Ben Buehler (100 free) and Ben Dixon (200 free, 1:48.38) had the event's other two wins. Buehler (48.81) beat Dixon by .03.
Title time
North won its fourth CI title in a row and, for the sixth year in a row, raised its point total, going from 216, to 342, 454, 478, 494 to this year's total of 511, the most since South had a 512 in 2016. South was second at 450, with Columbus North fourth, the first time since 2009 the Bull Frogs have not been in the top two.
On the girls' side, South reclaimed the title after its six-year reign was interrupted by the Cougars last year. The Panthers scored a 487 to top North (431) in what has become a tight rivalry over the past two years.
North won last year's sectional 457-453 and last year's CI title, 439-401 while South has won the last two Counsilman Classic's 91-86 and 94-91. The Panthers won the 2021 sectional title 487-431, but North's divers were out due to COVID quarantine.
The 2023 Counsilman Classic will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the new North pool for the first time.
Team effort for South girls
The Panthers won just three events, two of them by freshman Harper Eakin, who swam heavy yardage (850) but still won the 200 free (2:00.69) by a second and then the 500 (5:13.67) over sister Alex (5:20.51). Anna Asplund had the other title, winning the 100 backstroke (59.51) to lead a 1-2-3 South sweep at the top.
South finished second in the medley relay and 400 free relay and fourth in the 200 free. Where the points really came from was the strong depth the Panthers posted in every event.
Out of 27 swims, just two did not result in a top-eight finish. Outside of the back, South went 1-4-5 in the 200 free, 3-5-8 in the IM, 5-7-8 in the 50, 2-5-8 in diving, 5-6-9 in the fly, 2-5-6 in the 100 free, 1-2-5 in the 500 and 4-5-13 in the breast.
North had both of its wins come from junior Ashley Freel, the first Cougar ever to three-peat in two events at the CI meet, taking the IM (2:12.25) and fly (58.02) by wide margins. North also won the 400 free relay (3:43.57) with Freel finishing up in 53.47. Karen Tabbal was second in the 50 (25.09) and third in the 100, Annie Murer third in the 200 free and Lucy Mitchell third in the breast. North had 18 season and 11 lifetime bests.
"I thought our energy really built through the course of the meet," North coach Taylor McGregor said. "And we were all getting pumped about how people were swimming with it being only a week since the grind of winter training.
"It is great for them to do so even when they are tired. The meet has the team and coaching staff excited about what is to come."
Diver driven
North's Miller repeated as diving champ, posting a career high 462.75 to win by 107 points.
"He’s worked really hard this year to learn new dives and improve his overall skills," Cougar diving coach Stephanie Lochbiler said. "And I’m excited to see what he will accomplish moving forward."
Miller was 18th at state last year, winning a sectional title with a 436.35. South's Michael Tierney (335.90) was fourth.
South's Carina Jacobson was second in the girls' competition with a 386.50 to Terre Haute South's Kalyn Alivio (414.50) and North's Bella Martin (344.15) was fourth.
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington sophomore boy swimmers shine at Counsilman Classic
