H.S. GIRLS' SWIMMING: Manger finished sixth, eighth in final state meet

Floyd County Sports

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New Albany's Hannah Manger finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke and eighth in the 200 individual medley at Saturday's state finals in IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis. File photo by Joe Ullrich
New Albany's Rachel Klein placed 16th in the 50-yard freestyle and helped the Bulldogs' 200 freestyle relay team to a 14th-place finish at Saturday's IHSAA state finals meet at IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis. File photo by Joe Ullrich

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February 10, 2013

H.S. GIRLS' SWIMMING: Manger finished sixth, eighth in final state meet

Klein 16th in 50, Taylor 16th in 500

By BRIAN PELOZA sports@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Sun Feb 10, 2013, 02:17 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS — New Albany senior Hannah Manger had mixed emotions during the Saturday’s swimming state finals, held in the IUPUI Natatorium.

Manger experienced the joy of swimming well in the final of two events, but then felt the sadness of realizing her high school career was over.

But she can quickly look forward to beginning her collegiate career as a Purdue University swimmer.

“It’s been a crazy ride,” Manger said. “I’m happy I got to the state finals and it’s been one of my biggest goals. Swimming as well as I did makes it a great finish.”

Manger was sixth in the 100-yard backstroke in 56.45 seconds, while she took eighth in the 200 individual medley in 2:03.98.

“She dropped her time [in the 200 IM] by four seconds from sectional,” New Albany coach Steve Bonifer said. “It was a good weekend for her.”

Manger advanced to the state finals after overcoming past shoulder injuries, which slowed her strength progression.

“She’s had some ups-and-downs with a shoulder injury that held her back for a year and a half,” Bonifer said. “She has changed a lot body-wise from a freshmen to where she is at now.”

In the 200 freestyle relay, New Albany was 14th in 1:39.17, led by Manger, senior Rachel Klein, sophomore Alexis Lete and freshman Reagan Thom.

Klein was 16th in the 50 freestyle.

“Overall I couldn’t be more pleased, we had a really good weekend,” Bonifer said.

New Albany finished 19th in the team standings with 34 1/2 points. Carmel won its 27th consecutive team championship with a dominating 397 points, well ahead of Penn’s second-place tally of 189 points.

“I hope [the underclassmen] use the experience, seeing what it takes to get here and then what it takes to move up. Hopefully that will be a good experience for them,” Bonifer said.

Floyd Central scored a point on sophomore Meg Taylor’s 16th place finish in the 500 freestyle in 5:09.44.

Penn’s Addisynn Bursch won the 200 IM in 2:00.08, while Carmel’s Claire Adams won the 100 backstroke in a state-meet record 53.40 seconds.