Indiana State Champs – Prelims: Carmel High Scares National High School Record in 200 Medley Relay
The finals of the Indiana High School Girls Championships won’t take place until Saturday, but the Carmel Greyhounds are already surging through the water at the Indiana University Natatorium. In the first event of the prelims session on Friday night, Carmel made a run at the national high school record in the 200-yard medley.
The quartet of Berit Berglund, Molly Sweeney, Alex Shackell and Lucy Enoch posted a time of 1:38.51, which easily earned the top seed for the final. More, the mark wasn’t far off the scholastic record of 1:38.13, set in 2018 by Fossil Ridge of Colorado. Qualifying second for the final was Penn, thanks to a time of 1:42.18.
Bound for the University of Texas, Berglund jumpstarted Carmel with a backstroke split of 24.27. She was followed by Sweeney, who covered the breaststroke leg in 27.44. Shackell checked in with a blazing butterfly split of 23.21, and Enoch went 23.59 for the freestyle anchor. Carmel is expected to be faster in the championship heat, which not only means challenging the national record, but also the 1:38 barrier.
Carmel’s chase for the high-school record in the medley relay started to take shape at last week’s Sectionals, where the Greyhounds put together a performance of 1:39.26. At last year’s state meet, Carmel captured the title in the 200 medley relay in 1:38.55.
Through the early portion of prelims, Carmel also earned top seeds in the 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle. Lynsey Bowen was fastest in the 200 freestyle, going1:46.25, while Sweeney went 1:55.88 in the 200 IM. Meanwhile, Shackell clocked 22.05 in the 50 freestyle, with Lily Christianson of Penn following in 22.33.
Later in the session, Shackell fired off a dynamite 51.16 swim in the 100 butterfly and Christianson touched first in the 100 freestyle in 49.25, with Berglund next in 49.53. Bowen added her second No. 1 seed after covering the 500 freestyle in 4:43.42 and Carmel went 1:33.48 for the fastest time in the 200 freestyle relay.
In the 100 backstroke, Berglund qualified fastest in 51.98, and Sweeney cracked the minute barrier in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 59.63. Carmel posted a time of 3:23.33 in the 400 freestyle relay for the top seed.