BROWNSBURG — Greenfield-Central senior Shyanne Milne will be making her third consecutive appearance in the IHSAA State Swim and Dive Finals on Saturday. This year’s trip, though, will be far from routine.
After placing in seventh at Plainfield last season, Milne finished in fourth on Tuesday at the Brownsburg Regional to lock her spot in the field of 32 at IUPUI’s Natatorium this weekend. This year, however, she won’t be going alone.
Milne will be joined by teammate Maci Montgomery, a junior, who finished in seventh place to also earn a spot in the state finals. Montgomery, in only her second season of diving, used a consistent effort on the board, according to head coach Duane Knecht, to earn her first trip to state. She finished with a final score of 382.74.
“She has been doing all the same dives this season, and I really pushed her last year to learn them all,” Knecht said. “She is just more consistent than she was last year.”
Added Montgomery: “It feels good to be able to make it this far; it’s kind of scary, though. I am really excited. It’s been good to have (Shyanne) there to help push me.”
And for the first time in recent memory, according to Knecht, Hancock County will have three female divers represent the area at state. Mt. Vernon senior Maddy King also qualified for the biggest meet of the season after finishing with a final score of 407.01, which put her in fifth place.
King, with Milne, was one of three divers who entered the meet having scored more than 400 points in sectional action. After eight dives, she was in fifth with 294.63 points.
Milne, who finished 13th overall at state last season, entered the Brownsburg Regional with the third highest score in sectional competition, breaking her own school record (439.95 points) at New Palestine. She finished with 412.74 points on Tuesday.
“We thought this is where we would be after the meet,” Knecht said.
“We added a new dive for (Milne), but she wasn’t able to train as much during the offseason.”
After eight dives, Milne, who had heart surgery on the first day of practice, was in third place with 308.82 points and Montgomery was in seventh with a score of 276.15.
“Thinking positive has helped me,” Montgomery added. “I get up there now and think ‘I can do this.’”
Sophomore Evie Geier of the International School of Indianapolis led the meet (323.46 points) with three attempts left and finished second overall to Heritage Christian’s Gracie Tiernon, who scored a 454.77 to take first.
Kristina Zick of Plainfield, Lexi Blackburn of Cascade and Camryn Blake of Cardinal Ritter rounded out the top eight.
Eight individuals from each of the four diving regionals now advance to the state finals, which will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday (preliminary and semifinal diving rounds) and 1 p.m. (finals for all events).
Twenty divers will advance to the prelims and semis at state after five dives. After three dives in the semis, the top 16 individuals will advance to the final round for another three attempts each, according to ihsaa.org.
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1. Gracie Tiernon, Heritage Christian – 454.77
2. Evie Geier, International School – 442.77
3. Kristina Zick, Plainfield – 438.78
4. Shyanne Milne, Greenfield-Central – 412.74
5. Maddy King, Mt. Vernon – 407.01
6. Lexi Blackburn, Cascade – 402.24
7. Maci Montgomery, Greenfield-Central – 382.74
8. Camryn Blake, Cardinal Ritter – 365.19
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