Ainsley Sherlock
ST. LEON — Girls swimmers from Columbus are in position to advance to state in three events after swimming the fastest qualifying times in Thursday’s preliminaries of the East Central Sectional.
Columbus North’s Ainsley Sherlock had the fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke (1 minute, 7.95 seconds), and the Bull Frogs’ Mridula Muthukumaran, Katie Frazier, Sherlock and Georgia Abdallah tied with Bloomington South for the fastest time in the 200 freestyle relay (1:45.78). Columbus East’s Connelly Furnish was fastest in the 200 individual medley (2:15.06).
Connelly Furnish
North also was second-fastest in the 200 medley relay (1:55.69), just 26-hundreths of a second behind Bloomington South. Sherlock was third-fastest in the 200 IM (2:20.53), Frazier was third-fastest in the 100 freestyle (56.53) and fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:03.19), Muthukumaran was fourth-fastest in the 100 butterfly (1:02.77) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:03.86) and the Bull Frogs were fourth-fastest in the 400 freestyle relay (4:05.17).
Also qualifying for Saturday’s championship finals from North were Saana Kulkarni (sixth in 200 IM, 2:30.34, and eighth in 100 butterfly, 1:07.32), Brooklyn Pendleton (sixth in 50 freestyle, 26.24), Abdallah (eighth in 50 freestyle, 26.37) and Cora Tregoning (eighth in 100 breaststroke, 1:17.54).
For the Olympians, Connelly Furnish also qualified second in the 500 freestyle (5:18.54), and East was second-fastest in the 400 freestyle relay (3:58.93) and third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:47.11). Ali Trueblood was fourth-fastest in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.57).
Other Olympians qualifying for championship finals were Cassidy Furnish (sixth in 500 freestyle, 5:41.88), Abby Proffitt (eighth in 500 freestyle, 5:46.33) and Kira VanValkenburg (eighth in 200 IM, 2:32.13). East was seventh-fastest in the 200 medley relay (2:10.67).
The diving prelims will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and the final three dives will take place within the swimming finals, which start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The top four divers will qualify for Tuesday’s Jasper Diving Regional. East senior Gabbie Meier is the three-time defending sectional diving champion and state qualifier.
Swimming winners and those meeting the state standard will qualify for the Feb. 9-10 state finals at IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium. If the 20 sectional champions from around the state and those meeting the state standard are fewer than 32, swimmers with the next-best times from around the state will be added to reach a full field of 32 in each event.
