By Andy Ross, Swimming World College Intern
If Carmel was going to win its 30th straight Indiana state championship on Saturday, they were going to need to get it done on Friday night. They did just that and their seasoned veterans set two state records to set the Greyhounds up for history on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Veronica Burchill, who has committed to Georgia, reset her state record in the 100 fly with a 52.13. She went 52.26 last year. She could still get some heat from Crown Point junior and national team member Hannah Kukurugya. She is seeded second at 53.44. Keep an eye out on the national record though, which is held by Katie McLaughlin at 51.53. Burchill is also eligible for the public school record held by Beata Nelson at 51.70.
Senior and national team member Claire Adams creeped closer to the 100 back national record. The Texas commit broke her own state record with a 51.65 in prelims to be the top seed by nearly three seconds. Her teammate Sammie Burchill is second at 54.33. Adams will be looking to snag Olivia Smoliga’s 51.43 national record tomorrow.
Adams is also the top seed in the 100 free at 48.63. Few thought Amy Bilquist’s 48.36 state record was in jeopardy but Adams definitely has a chance to snag that.
Carmel is also the top seed in all three relays and state records are on the hot seat in two of them. Adams (24.43), Kendall Smith (28.88), V. Burchill (23.71) and Trude Rothrock (23.15) went 1:40.17 to lead the 200 medley relay teams. The state record is 1:39.25 set last year.
The 200 free relay is the one relay that Carmel is in danger of losing. They lead the field at 1:33.40 and Hamilton Southeastern is second at 1:34.03. Veronica Burchill split a noteworthy 22.21 on the anchor leg for Carmel.
After going 3:15.38 a year ago, few thought that that record would be topped. But you never know with Chris Plumb’s group at Carmel. Caroline Schultz (51.68), Morgan Miller (52.38), S. Burchill (49.42) and Emma Nordin (49.77) lead at 3:23.25. They will probably switch out the first two girls for Adams and Rothrock and a sub-3:20 is definitely in the cards tomorrow.
Another star on the rise for this team is Junior Emma Nordin. She leads the 200 free field with a 1:46.03, less than a second off of Adams’ state record of 1:45.09. Nordin is followed by freshman teammate Kelly Pash at 1:48.21. Nordin also leads the 500 free field with a 4:49.01. Nordin set the state record last year with a 4:45.15 and could be chasing that down again this year.
Other top seeds are Kukurugya in the 200 IM (1:58.59), Robyn Clevenger of Hamilton Southeastern in the 50 free (22.83) and Emily Weiss of Yorktown at 1:01.64. Kukurugya has an outside shot of chasing down Michelle McKeehan’s legendary state record from 2008 at 1:56.87. She will be pushed by Sammie Burchill in the final.
Finals will begin at 1 p.m. EST tomorrow at the ndianaUPUI Natatorium in downtown Indianapolis.
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That’s a huge commit for Texas (Claure Adams). With Bilquist season @. Cal Ii’d gave thought that might influence her college choice but I guess that oil field Texas promised her did the trick!