Katie Frazier
As long as Columbus North has been in the same conference and sectional as Bloomington North and Bloomington South, those two schools have been the biggest competitors to the Bull Dogs’ challenges of winning titles.
Thursday night, two days before those teams were set to battle in the Conference Indiana meet in Terre Haute, Columbus North and Bloomington North got together for a dual meet. The Cougars won the boys meet 127-56, but the Bull Frog girls broke a long drought against Bloomington North with a 97-89 victory.
“The girls did a great job,” Columbus North coach Mike Cunningham said. “They stepped up and had a lot of fast races. They’ve been working hard over break, so it’s really paying off. It’s exciting to watch.”
The Bull Frog girls won only four events to eight for the Cougars, but Columbus North showed superior depth to score enough points to pull out the win.
“I really liked that everyone tried really hard over Christmas break, and we did a lot of pretty good workouts and we were able to prove that today as a team,” junior Katie Frazier said.
Ainsley Sherlock
“I feel like we did a great job, considering we haven’t had a lot of meets lately, and I think it really showed how strong we’re going to be at conference,” sophomore Ainsley Sherlock added. “It shows how hard we are working, and it really paid off.”
Mridula Muthakumaran
Frazier won the 100-yard freestyle in 58.12 seconds, Sherlock took the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.89 and freshman Mridula Muthukumaran captured the 200 individual medley in 2:22.20. Those three teamed with Georgia Abdallah to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:48.83.
“I think we did really good,” Muthakumaran said. “I really liked the cheering, and I think after all the practices, we had, we did really good and we were able to prove ourselves in the pool today.”
On the boys side, the Bull Frogs’ Aarush Mahato, Jude Abdallah, Brock Smith and Diego Cotero Tapia won the 200 medley relay in 1:45.39. Dagan Kleffman tied for first in the diving competition with 127.70 points.
“Jude had a huge time drop,” Cunningham said. “We had a lot of time drops in the 200 free. Brock got a best time in the 200 IM. In the 100 breaststroke, Victor (Joergensen) dropped 4 seconds. Our breaststroke was definitely the strongest that we’ve had today.”
Saturday’s conference meet will be at the Vigo County Aquatic Center.
“I’m very excited about conference,” Cunningham said. “It will be a fun meet. I’d like it if we didn’t have to travel 2 1/2 hours. Bloomington South will be tough, but I think the girls are ready to race them, and the boys, I’m hoping to race as well as we did last year, if not better.”
