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  • New Albany junior Hannah Manger will swim in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke at state on Friday. Staff photo by C.E. Branham Staff photo by C.E. Branham

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February 8, 2012

POOLSIDE: Local accomplishment the focus at state

Floyd Central, Jeff, New Albany swimmers face uphill battle in final meet

By MATT KOESTERS Matt.Koesters@newsandtribune.com

> SOUTHERN INDIANA — The likelihood of a local girl bringing home a state championship at the IHSAA State Swimming Championship meet in Indianapolis this Friday and Saturday is incredibly slim.

But that’s why they run the races. And despite the long odds, area swimmers are excited to be a part of it.

“Swimming is one of the toughest state finals to get to,” Floyd Central coach Joe Perkins said. “We only have 20 sectionals and no regional. There are only 20 automatic spots in the meet. You get that by winning an event in the sectional. It always means a lot as a swimmer and a coach to get your kids to this point of the tournament.”

Girls from Floyd Central, Jeffersonville and New Albany will represent Southern Indiana at the state meet, and judging by the psych sheet for the meet, each of the girls will have a tough time making it out of the preliminaries on Friday.

The top 16 in each event will advance to Saturday. Only the top eight from the prelims have a chance to win, with swimmers in places nine through sixteen swimming a consolation round. And according to the psych sheet, only New Albany’s Hanna Manger is predicted to move to the consolation bracket on Saturday.

Manger enters the meet as the 13th-ranked swimmer in the 100 backstroke, entering with a sectional time of 58.22. Crown Point’s Aly Tetzloff is the top seed with a time of 56.05. Manger is also seeded 21st in the 200 individual medley.

Floyd Central will send the largest contingent of girls to the meet, led by Haley Dresner and Meg Taylor.

Dresner will compete in the 100 free and 100 breast, while Taylor will take part in the 200 free and 500 free event.

Additionally, Dresner and Taylor will team up with Amy McCormick and Maryn Meldrum to race in the 200-medley relay and the 400-free relay.

“They are excited about the meet,” Perkins said. “It was a surprise for the 200-medley relay to get picked up for the meet. That added some excitement for the additional event. We have been focusing on this point in the season for these girls so they have been mentally preparing for this all season.”

Dresner is seeded 27th in the 100 free and 31st in the 100 breast. Taylor is seeded 25th in the 200 free and 28th in the 500 free.

“For Meg and Haley, we are looking for lifetime-best times in their individual events,” Perkins said. “We have been pointing them to this all season. Coming into this meet, if they can drop time, it will give them a chance to move up.”

The relay teams are also up against tough competition. The Floyd Central 200-medley relay team is seeded 27th — with New Albany ahead of them with the 25th seed — while the 400-free team is also 27th going in.

“We are looking for two school records in the relays,” Perkins said. “The medley has continued to drop time throughout the end of the season, so hopefully we can put that one (in) our record book.

“The girls broke the school record for the 400-freestyle relay at the conference meet. We backed off of that one a little at the sectional meet to save for the state meet. That one should have a chance to break their record from earlier in the season.”

New Albany’s 200-free relay team of Rachel Klein, Abby Litkenhous, Alexis Lete and Manger are seeded 20th in the event with a sectional time of 1:40.19.

For Jeffersonville, Hanna Martin will also have tough sledding when she competes in the 100 fly. With a sectional time of 1:00.38, Martin is seeded 29th. The top seed is Wawasee’s Brittany Robinson with a time of 53.86.



DIVING RESULTS

Jeffersonville’s Alexa Waldrip did not advance to the state finals after finishing 13th at the Bloomington North Regional on Tuesday. Waldrip recorded a score of 229.55. 

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