Murtagh powers Tiger Cubs to second place

Monday, February 9, 2009
GHS swimmer Kelsey Murtagh swam her way to a second place finish in the event and first in the 100-yard freestyle.

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Luke Beasley and the Lady Tiger Sharks didn't win the team championship at the Crawfordsville Sectional, but some of them are going to the state meet.

Greencastle will be represented in four different events in the state prelims on Friday in the 200-yard medley relay, the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events and the 100-yard backstroke.

"Obviously we are disappointed that we didn't win the team championship because that is always our goal as a team," Beasley said. "But I don't think Greencastle could have swam much better today.

"The medley relay's time is a school record by one and half seconds and it's got a great opportunity to be top 16 in state if we swim to our capabilities. Kelsey Murtagh swimming a 56 high in the back stroke was unbelievable. That girl can get a top eight medal in the state and we are very excited about the state meet this year," Beasley said.

The 200 Medley Relay, consisting of Murtagh, Morgan Terry, Melissa Ball and Ericka Collins, state cut time of 1:52.43 was the first thing to go right for Greencastle on Saturday, because even though the team finished second, they beat the state cut time of 1:52.86 allowing them to advance to the state prelims.

Then two events later Ball won the 50 freestyle, the only event that Greencastle was seeded No. 1 in, with a time of 24.97 almost a second faster than her prelims time, and that was something that made her nearly speechless.

"It feels great. I really don't know what to say other than that," Ball said. "I'm always happy to score points for my team to win."

Then there was Murtagh.

She will be representing Greencastle in two events, the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

In the 100, she blew away the competition with a time of 54.12 almost two seconds faster that the second place finisher and over four seconds faster than her prelims time.

"I don't even know what I can say," Murtagh said. "It's unbelievable. I never thought I could swim that fast.

"I thought something happened with the timing when I looked up and saw that I finished first with that time," She said.

Then in the 100 backstroke she did it again, swimming a 56.83 for a second place finish, but blew away the state cut time of 59.91 earning her a spot in the state prelims on Friday.

"To be honest all of this hasn't even sunk in yet," Murtagh said after the backstroke. "This is a big honor and there was a lot of competition today, so I'm just really excited."

At Crawfordsville

IHSAA Girls Swim Sectional

200-yard Medley Relay -- 1. Crawfordsville 1:50.69, 2. Greencastle 1:52.43, 3. Southmont 1:57.23, 4. North Montgomery 2:01.27, 5. Fountain Central 2:06.66, 6. South Putnam 2:10.85, 7. North Putnam 2:12.84, 8. South Vermillion 2:13.40, 9. Western Boone 2:26.29, 10. North Vermillon 2:26.29.

200-yard Freestyle -- 1. Field (CF) 2:00.58, 2. Collins (GC) 2:03.74, 3. Terry (GC) 2:07.71, 4. Dove (SM) 2:07.99, 5. Emmert (WB) 2:11.36, 6. Thompson (NM) 2:14.27, 7. McGee (WB) 2:17.62, 8. Hollis (SG) 2:18.69, 9. Brainnard (CF) 2:21.01, 10. Culler (GC) 2:21.23, 11. Smith (SV) 2:23.02, 12. Guinter (CF) 2:24.76

200-yard IM -- Mishler (SM) 2:07.84, 2. Robinson (CF) 2:10.54, 3. Robertson (CF) 2:18.92, 4. Hunt (CF) 2:30.77, 5. Burkhart (SM) 2:31.59, 6. Gannaway (GC) 2:32.57, 7. Amstutz (NM) 2:28.17, 8. Jarvis (SM) 2:33.21, 9. Aring (GC) 2:33.84, 10. Long (WB) 2:24.79, 11. Harper (NP) 2:47.05, 12. McGrady (FC) 2:53.20

50-yard Freestyle -- 1. Ball (GC) 24.97, 2. Howland (CF) 25.71, 3. Detro (SM) 25.98, 4. Kinslow IWB) 26.02, 5. Haddock (SG) 26.36, 6. Terry (GC) 27.26, 7. Wilcox (NP) 26.47, 8. Simpson (NM) 26.73, 9. Bittles (GC) 26.85, 10. Redmaster (NM) 27.26, 11. Riley (NM) 28.26, 12. Lund (SP) 28.52.

100-yard Butterfly -- 1. Fairfield (CF) 58.18, 2. McIlrath (NM) 58.92, 3. Bittles (GC) 1:04.92, 4. Dove (SM) 1:05.61, 5. Menzel (CF) 1:06.80, 6. Amstutz (NM) 1:07.26, 7. Aring (GC) 1:08.66, 8. Stewart (CF) 1:12.95, 9. Parker (SM) 1;13.27, 10. Sherwood (SP) 1:15.45, 11. Taylor (SG) 1:15.91, 12. Draper (SV) 1:21.46.

100-yard Freesyle -- 1. Murtagh (GC) 54.12, 2. Ball (GC) 56.08, 3. Kinslow (WB) 57.45, 4. Detro (SM) 57.49, 5. Wilcox (NP) 59.96, 6. Terry (GC) 1:02.66, 7. Haddock (SG) 59.42, 8. Simpson (NM) 1:00.24, 9. Redmaster (NM) 1:00.52, 10. Lowe (FC) 1:01.33, 11. Brainard (CF) 1:02.62, 12. Draper (SM) 1:04.77.

500-yard Freestyle -- 1. Howland (CF) 5:27.35, 2. Terry (GC) 5:37.94, 3. Conrad (CV) 5:42.31, 4. Emmert (WB) 5:55.97, 5. Thompson (NM) 6:07.51, 6. Jarvis (SM) 6:10.68, 7. Hollis (SG) 6:08.18, 8. Menzel (CF) 6:11.94, 9. Poor (GC) 6:13.96, 10. Culler (GC) 6:25.66, 11. McGee (WB) 6:26.55, 12. Smith (SV) 6:33.82.

200-yard Freestyle -- 1. Crawfordsville 1:46.61, 2. Greencastle 1:43.55, 3. North Montgomery 1:49.07, 4. Seeger 1:53.76, 5. South Putnam 1:55.43, 6. Fountain Central 1:57.45, 7. Southmont 1:57.05, 8. South Vermillion 1:58.38, 9. North Putnam 2:01.80, 10. North vermillion 2:02.87, 11. Attica 2:10.31.

100-yard Backstroke -- 1. Mishler (SM) 56.88, 2. Murtagh (GC) 56.83, 3. Collins (GC) 1:03.73, 4. Conrad (CF) 1:03.75, 5. Hunt (CF) 1:07.85, 6. Burkhart (SM) 1:09.28, 7. Riley (NM) 1:11.99, 8. Sheldon (FC) 1:13.23, 9. Guinter (CF) 1:13.57, 10. New (SP) 1:15.83, 11. Long (WB) 1:16.19, 12. Smith (NP) 1:16.83.

100-yard Breaststroke -- 1. Robinson (CF) 1:03.80, 2. McIllrath (NM) 1:05.44, 3. Lowe (FC) 1:10.51, 4. Robertson (CF) 1:10.69, 5. VvanHyfte (SG) 1:17.64, 6. Gannaway (GC) 1:18.82, 7. Roberts (SV) 1:20.54, 8. York (SP) 1:20.55, 9. Lowe (FC) 1:22.43, 10. Furr (CF) 1:22.59, 11. Hegedus (WB) 1:22.92, 12. Bowman (SM) 1:23.69.

400-yard Freestyle -- 1. Southmont 3:51.45, 2. North Montgomery 4:02.89, 3. Western Boone 4:07.70, 4. South Vermillion 4:25.14, 5. Fountain Central 4:26.04, 6. South Putnam 4:33.40, 7. Seeger 4:35.58, 8. Attica 5:01.23, 9. North Putnam 5:13.41.

Diving -- 1. Simmons (CF) 314.05, 2. Patton (CF) 278.00, 3. Leister (SV) 273.70, 4. Morgan (CF) 251.20, 5. Randolph (SV) 235.15, 6. Lollar (SP) 229.95, 7. Hudson (NM) 226.20, 8. Sears (WB) 217.35, 9. Lowe (FC) 216.35, 10. Means (FC) 213.95, 11. Poor (GC) 212.05, 12. Brooks (SG) 182.85.