NEW PALESTINE — The prizes will be distributed on Saturday, but those honors cannot be achieved without a solid performance tonight.
The New Palestine Girls Swimming and Diving Sectional gets underway this evening, 5:30 p.m., with preliminary rounds in 11 events. On Saturday, the diving competition starts at 9 a.m. with the swimming finals slated to begin at 1 p.m.
First-place winners and those that equal or better the state time standards in each event qualify for the IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals preliminaries to be held Friday, Feb. 12 at the Indiana University Natatorium in downtown Indianapolis. The state finals races and diving competition will take place at the venue on Saturday, Feb. 13.
A final opportunity to move on to state can be accomplished if the swimmer or relay is the next fastest in the state that would bring the total number of state meet entrants to 32 in each event.
It all begins tonight with sectional prelims. Berths in the state field do not go out until Saturday, but that may not happen without a good start to the postseason tonight.
“If you don’t set up Thursday, Saturday doesn’t happen,” Greenfield-Central coach Emily Logan said. “You can’t ever overlook what’s happening (tonight). We have a psych sheet that comes out and we can see where our girls are seeded. For some, (tonight) will be very, very critical. For others it won’t be quite as tough.
“We go over that with them every single year. You’ve got to do your job (in the preliminaries) to be there and be ready to come back and swim your best on Saturday to finish it out. Tonight is huge. You can’t take it lightly.”
The Cougars haven’t taken it lightly.
They come into this week’s sectional looking for their eighth straight team title.
Eleven teams will compete at the event held at the New Palestine Natatorium.
Greenfield-Central will be joined by fellow Hancock County teams Eastern Hancock, Mt. Vernon and New Palestine along with Centerville, Connersville, Hagerstown, New Castle, Richmond, Seton Catholic and Shelbyville.
“We have to get past (tonight),” New Palestine coach Jason Tillage said. “That’s the hardest part about the sectional. You have to qualify for Saturday, unfortunately and fortunately. We have a few kids outside the top 16 trying to get in (the B final) and we have kids outside the top 8 looking in (for the A final).
“You have no control how everyone else swims, but we have girls in position to do what they need to do to give them a chance to qualify for state.”
The Cougars have returning champions in all three relays and one individual event.
Though she won’t be competing in the event she won last year, sophomore Mary Ellen Stratman won the 200-yard IM at last year’s sectional. She was part of both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay wins.
She’ll be in the butterfly and backstroke this week.
Sophomore Norah Johnson was a member of both of those relays and got through on time in the 100 breaststroke, an event she’s coming off an impressive Hoosier Heritage Conference title in.
Junior Ariel Niemeier and senior Audrey Brinkruff were on last year’s 400 freestyle relay quartet and are among a deep group of G-C swimmers hoping to continue a stretch of victorious sectional performances.
Logan added along with wanting her team to do well, she hopes all the teams and their members will be able to compete.
Within the last few days, due to COVID-19 protocols, a number of schools have had to bow out of girls basketball sectional and boys wrestling regional competitions, including Greenfield-Central teams in both sports.
“Greenfield has dealt with our girls basketball team not even getting to compete at sectional (and now our wrestlers at regional). Our kids are sick over it for them and I’m sick for them,” Logan said. “I just want all the kids on all the teams be able to compete and finish out their seasons.
“They all have put a lot of time in. (Tonight and Saturday) I will be cheering for everybody. I love to race and I love to win, but I want them all to get there and be a good competition as a whole.”
Along with G-C’s returning sectional champions, Centerville junior Erica Lucas is back after winning both the 1-meter diving and 100 backstroke competitions last year. New Castle’s Lylah Hutson is the returning champion in the 500 freestyle. Shelbyville junior Marlee Rice will try to defend her crown in the 200 freestyle.
