Lady Tiger Sharks bound for state in three events

Melissa Ball's closest competition in the 100 butterfly at Saturday's sectional was nearly three seconds behind.

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Powered by two school records from senior Melissa Ball, the Greencastle girls' swim team placed second in the Crawfordsville swim sectional Saturday afternoon. The Lady Tiger Sharks advanced to state in three events.

Ball ran away from the competition in the 50 freestyle (24.14) and the 100 butterfly (57.57), breaking her own school record in each event.

The most exciting race of the day came from the GHS 200 freestyle relay team of Ball, Sydney Terry, Melanie Bittles and Natasha Aring. The team came from the third seed to swim a 1:45.35 and upset the Athenians by less than two tenths of a second.

South Putnam placed ninth on the day, with Jessica York's fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.45) leading the way.

North Putnam was 11th in the standings, with its top performance coming from the ninth-place finish of the 200 free relay. Halsey Foltz, Ashley Novak, Caroline Byrd and Michelle Harper turned in a 2:01.37 in the race.

Ball and the GHS 200 free relay team will compete at the preliminaries of the IHSAA State Finals at 6 p.m. Friday at the Indiana University Auditorium on the campus of IUPUI.

See Monday's Banner Graphic for the complete story and results of Saturday's meet.