Murtagh, relay team advance to state finals

Monday, February 5, 2007
Greencastle's Morgan Terry heads toward her finish in the 200-yard medley relay Saturday at the Crawfordsville Sectional.

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The Greencastle girls' swim team finish second among 13 teams at the Crawfordsville sectional championship Saturday on the strength of two state-qualifying heats.

The Tiger Sharks' 200-yard medley relay team of Kelsey Murtagh, Morgan Terry, Melissa Ball, and Erica Soster qualified for the state finals with a dominate time of 1:54.90.

Murtagh also qualified for state in the 100-yard backstroke finishing with a time of 59.71 to finish in second place in the championship heat.

"I'm very excited," Murtagh said after the meet. "It's a big accomplishment for me."

The South Putnam Eagles saw diver Shelby Johnston qualify for regionals, finishing in fourth place with combined dive total of 282.15.

"Shelby came back strong in the afternoon," coach Joe Condon said after the meet. "She just missed about four dives or she might have been in second place."

South also had a strong showing from Laura Manninen as she set school records in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle. In the 200 free, she posted a time of 2:09.56 to place fourth in the heat and clocked a time of 5:43.88 in the 500 free to take third place.

Greencastle continued its strong swimming with Collins finishing fourth and Ashley Allred finishing sixth in the 200 free, with times of 2:08.04 and 2:20.77, respectively. Allred swam with a broken toe suffered the night before the meet.

"She showed the rest of the team what team is all about," coach Emilie Bowman commented after the meet. "I thought it was very gutsy and full of heart."

Ball swam strong in the 200-yard IM, to finish in fourth place with a time of 2:22.81 and Soster finished third for the Tiger Sharks in the 50-yard freestyle, recording a time of 25.59. Soster also captured fifth place in the 100-yard free in a time of 57.06.

Murtagh also finished in 1:02.80 to secure second place in the 100-yard butterfly. Ball finished fifth in the same event with a time of 1:03.72.

Terry swam into a fourth-place finish in the 500-yard free slotting a time of 5:47.56 and Jackie Cantonwine finished in fifth place in the 100-yard backstroke hitting a time of 1:08.30. Sarah Land finished in fifth-place with a combined dive total of 274.85, narrowly missing advancing to the regionals.

Greencastle also place third and fourth in the two remaining relays. Third place was captured in the 200-yard free relay with the team of Ball, Murtagh, Soster, and Erika Collins in a time of 1:43.18. The team of Terry, Allred, Collins and Cantonwine grabbed fourth place in the 400-yard relay with a time of 4:07.32.

"I thought we came out and swam very well," Bowman said. "This team has a lot of heart."

When asked whether or not she would change up practices, Bowman responded that they would bump up yardage a little bit, but showed a little concern about the toll sectional might take on advancing swimmers.

"It's hard to swim for sectional and then swim again the following weekend," Bowman said, "but they will do their best to swim fast."

Bowman also noted that things that stood out to her as being memorable was her relay team and Murtagh advancing to state and the courage of Allred to perform while under distress.

The advancing Tiger Sharks will compete in the state finals beginning on Friday, finishing on Saturday, and Johnston will compete Tuesday at Avon.

At Crawfordsville

Crawfordsville Girls' Swim Sectional

Team results -- Crawfordsville 296, Greencastle 222, Southmont 175.5, Frankfort 157, North Montgomery 135.5, Clinton Central 88, Seeger 80, Fountain Central 64, South Vermillion 61, South Putnam 53, North Putnam 26, Attica 25.

Team and Individual results

200 medley relay -- 1. Greencastle (Murtagh, Ball, Terry, Soster) 1:54.90 2. Frankfort 1:59.17 3. Crawfordsville 1:59.92 4. Seeger 2:03.44 5. North Montgomery 2:04.04 6. South Vermillion 2:06.92

200 free -- 1. Southmont 1:57.73 2. Crawfordsville 2:05.58 3. Southmont 2:07.99 4. Greencastle (Collins) 2:08.04 5. South Putnam (Manninen) 2:09.56 6. Greencastle (Allred) 2:20.77

200 IM -- 1. Crawfordsville 2:16.50 2. North Montgomery 2:18.45 3. Crawfordsville 2:21.60 4. Greencastle (Ball) 2:22.81 5. Crawfordsville 2:25. 90 6. Clinton Central 2:28.00

50 free -- 1. Crawfordsville 25.10 2. Frankfort 25.52 3. Greencastle (Soster) 25.59 4. Clinton Central 25.70 5. Southmont 25.76 6. Crawfordsville 25.88

Diving -- 1. Fountain Central 398.55 2. Frankfort 294.70 3. Seeger 291.15 4. South Putnam (Johnston) 285.15 5. Greencastle (Land) 6. Southmont 260.05 7. North Montgomery 238.95 8. North Montgomery 235.75 9. Greencastle (Poor) 225.85 10. Fountain Central 224.60 11. Crawfordsville DQ 12. South Putnam DQ

100 butterfly -- 1. Crawfordsville 1:02.18 2. Greencastle (Murtagh) 1:02.80 3. Clinton Central 1:02.96 4. Crawfordsville 1:03.15 5. Greencastle (Ball) 1:03.72 6. Frankfort 1:05.06

100 free -- 1. Crawfordsville 55.69 2. Crawfordsville 56.54 3. Southmont 56.71 4. Seeger 56.98 5. Greencastle (Soster) 57.06 6. Frankfort 57.51

500 free -- 1. Crawfordsville 5:28.85 2. Crawfordsville 5:42.18 3. South Putnam (Manninen) 5:43.88 4. Greencastle (Terry) 5:47.56 5. Frankfort 5:48.77 6. North Montgomery 6:02.51

200 free relay -- 1. Crawfordsville 1:42.87 2. Southmont 1:43.15 3. Greencastle (Ball, Murtagh, Collins, Soster) 1:43.18 4. North Montgomery 1:49.43 5. Clinton Central 1:52.31 6. Fountain Central 1:56.66

100 backstroke -- 1. Southmont 59.15 2. Greencastle (Murtagh) 59.71 3. Frankfort 1:04.62 4. Clinton Central 1:06.07 5. Greencastle (Cantonwine) 1:08.30 6. South Vermillion 1:08.38

100 breaststroke -- 1. North Montgomery 1:10.14 2. Crawfordsville 1:11.77 3. Crawfordsville 1:14.36 4. Attica 1:15.19 5. Seeger 1:15.40 6. Frankfort 1:16.09

400 free relay -- 1. Crawfordsville 3:47.60 2. Southmont 3:45.59 3. Frankfort 3:58.41 4. Greencastle (Terry, Cantonwine, Allred, Collins) 4:07.32 5. Clinton Central 4:09.30 6. South Vermillion 4:11.22

-- The advancing Tiger Sharks will compete in the state finals beginning on Friday, finishing on Saturday, and Johnston will compete Tuesday at Avon.

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