Columbus North’s Diego Cortero Tapia competes in the 100-yard butterfly against Franklin at Columbus North, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
As they have done for the past several years, Columbus North has a brutal opening week of the swimming season in facing state powerhouses Franklin and North Central.
The Bull Frogs saw the first of those two powers on Tuesday when they opened the season at the Chick Newell Natatorium. Franklin won the boys meet 116-71 and the girls meet 137-57.
“I thought we had a great meet, actually,” North coach Mike Cunningham said. “We had a ton of near-best times. We had a whole bunch of best times, and they’re not rested. They stepped up and did a great job.”
The Bull Frog boys won four of the 12 events. Junior Diego Cortero Tapia was a double winner, taking the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 51.17 seconds and the 100 butterfly in 54.20.
“I’ve been working hard, especially during the summer, so I’ve been improving my times,” Cortero Tapia said.
Jude Abdallah won the 50 freestyle in 22.59. Cortero Tapia, David Zhang, Abdallah and Isaac Proffitt teamed to win the 200 medley relay in 1:33.06.
The North boys finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:42.99). Third-place finishers were Proffitt in the 50 freestyle (23.60), Brock Smith in the 100 butterfly (57.53), Mateo Gamez-Lamadrid in the 500 freestyle (5:54.52), HP Devaguptapu in the 100 backstroke (1:10.89) and Abdallah in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.11). The Bull Frogs also were third in the 400 freestyle relay (3:42.08).
“It was amazing,” Cortero Tapia said. “The whole team did a great job. We’re going to get better each time.”
While the girls did not have any event winners, they did get second-place finishes from Katie Frazier in the 200 freestyle (2:10.14), Ella Gray Partin in diving and Ainsley Sherlock in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.99). North also took second in the 200 medley relay (1:48.57).
Third-place finishers for the girls were Georgia Abdallah in the 50 freestyle (26.55), Elise Preston in diving, Sanaa Kulkarni in the 100 butterfly (1:08.59) and Mridula Muthukumaran in the 100 backstroke (1:06.77). The Bull Frogs also were third in the 200 medley (1:59.40) and 400 freestyle (4:08.55) relays.
“I thought all our kids did great,” Cunningham said. “I really was impressed with how our girls stepped up and raced. Our boys stepped up and raced well. Everybody really impressed me today. It was really awesome to see. It sets us for good expectations. We have lots of good expectations.”
North visits another state power in North Central on Saturday.
