By GREG MENGELT
NEW ALBANY — In the fastest Floyd Central girls’ swimming sectional in history on Saturday, the host Highlanders won their third straight crown by 37 points over runner-up New Albany.
“It was a just a great performance by everybody,” said Floyd coach Joe Perkins, who believes that the meet was won in Thursday’s preliminaries when 21 of the Highlanders’ 24 swimmers advanced to Saturday’s finals.
“They have a lot of seniors and they swam well,” New Albany coach Steve Bonifer said. “We have freshmen and they weren’t as focused. We didn’t swim well Thursday night, but I still think they would have won the meet. All along, I thought they were the favorite to win, even if we swam well, because of their experience. And that’s what happened.”
Haley Dresner won four times for the Highlanders on Saturday. She won the 100-yard breaststroke and set the sectional record with a 54.20-second swim in the 100-yard freestyle. She was also a member of both of the Highlanders’ sectional champion and record-setting relay teams.
“She had a great day,” Perkins said of his sophomore. “I think she has more in her for next weekend (at the state finals). I think she’ll put in a great performance.”
Dresner and her 200 medley relay team got the Highlanders off strong in the first event. Dresner, Katelyn Cato, Shelby Weathers and Brittany Baird avenged a loss to New Albany in the same event a week ago and set the sectional record with a time of 1:53.41 and beating the favored Bulldogs by 2.25 seconds.
“In the conference meet, we had to come from behind,” Perkins said. “We talked (Friday) night (after Thursday’s preliminary round) that we had an opportunity to lead this meet from the beginning. To be able to lead from the beginning made us comfortable with what we were doing.”
“We all swam strong legs, and we did what we had to do to win,” Dresner said. “We were really pumped up to beat New Albany.”
“We were just fired up,” Cato said. “We had no idea what the sectional record was. We just wanted to cut time and make it to state. That was our main goal.”
As opposed to the Hoosier Hills Conference event, Floyd led New Albany, 102-101 after diving, leading to the easier-than-expected victory.
The 400 freestyle relay team — Dresner, Cato, Weathers and freshman Sarah Taylor — capped off the sectional by setting another meet record in 3:45.56.
“I think we all came in and did what we had to do to win,” Dresner said.
Like Floyd Central, New Albany won four events on Saturday. Freshman Hannah Manger stole the show by shattering two records, winning the 200 individual medley in 2:08.58 — nearly seven seconds faster than Morgan Baumgartle’s record — and the 500 freestyle in 5:10.88 — more than 16 seconds ahead of Baumgartle’s pace.
“I expected to do it, but it’s overwhelming at the same time,” Manger said. “I wanted to do it. I had my mind on doing it. But now that I’ve done it, it feels great.”
“We expected her to win the events,” Bonifer said. “I was pleased with her times. Truthfully, I was looking for 5:07, but that’s tough when she’s 50 yards ahead. She’ll get better with faster swimmers next to her.”
Manger also anchored the Bulldogs’ record-setting 200 freestyle relay champions. Manger, Abby Litkenhous, Rachel Klein and Lauren McCool swam the relay in 1:43.42.
Litkenhous was New Albany’s fourth champion, winning the 50 freestyle in 25.12, just a touch ahead of Cato.
“When I breathed at one point, I looked and (Cato) was a ahead of me,” Litkenhous recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh, no, I don’t have it.’ I didn’t breathe the rest of the way and I tried real hard, then I realized I had it. It was great.”
The Bulldogs’ 200 free relay team consisted of three freshmen and Litkenhous, a sophomore. That was a trend on Saturday. No juniors and only one senior — Jeffersonville’s Katie Daily — advanced to next week’s state finals in an individual event.
“It was a young meet,” Perkins said. “There are some fast freshmen and sophomores out there. It’s only going to get faster, and this is already one of the best sectionals out there right now.”
