Showstoppers! Carmel Blasts National High School Record In 200 Freestyle Relay
Through the years, Carmel High School, with coach Chris Plumb at the helm, has used the Indiana State Championships as its showcase event, and Saturday afternoon proved no different for the end of this scholastic season. After setting a national record in the 200-yard medley relay in the opening event of the competition, Carmel blasted its own high school mark in the 200 freestyle relay.
Scaring the 1:30 barrier, Carmel delivered a time of 1:30.23 to break the old national record by almost a half-second. Carmel’s previous record stood at 1:30.72, and was set during the 2015 season. This latest national mark handed the Greyhounds a three-plus second triumph over runnerup Penn (1:33.58) at the Indiana University Natatorium.
A freshman, Molly Sweeney led off in 23.00 to build a sizable lead. On the second leg, Grace Dougherty dipped under 23 seconds with a split of 22.81 and set up Meghan Christman, who came through with a split of 22.63. On the anchor leg, sophomore sensation Alex Shackell popped a split of 21.79 to clinch Carmel’s national record.
Sweeney, Christman and Shackell were members of the record-setting medley relay earlier in the session, and Shackell won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly in state-record times.