Headley paces girls’ swimmers moving on to sectional finals

AVON — Sophomore Olivia Headley of Greencastle qualified for the finals in two individual events and a relay to highlight Putnam County performances on Thursday night at the Avon swimming sectional preliminaries.

Headley placed third in the 50-yard freestyle and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle, while also anchoring the 200-yard freestyle relay team to a second-place finish.

Other individuals qualifying for Saturday’s finals by placing in the top eight were South Putnam’s Sammi Jones (eighth in the 200 freestyle) and Josie Hutcheson (seventh in 100 breaststroke).

Other relays qualifying for the finals are Greencastle (sixth) and South Putnam (seventh) in the 200-yard medley, South Putnam (seventh) and Greencastle (eighth) in the 400-yard freestyle and South Putnam (seventh in the 200-yard freestyle.

“It was a strong night for the Lady Tiger Sharks, and I was very pleased to see Olivia Headley’s speed leading the way to individual top eight finishes in both of her events [the 50 and 100 free],” Greencastle coach Kent Menzel said. “Olivia also anchored our 200 free relay to second seed powering along with Zoe Weltz, Katie White and Caroline Gooch. Those women are definitely looking to go faster on Saturday.”

Menzel noted other swims that stood out were from his breast-strokers.

“Coach Carmen [Cronin] has been working and working with them the last two weeks, and all of that paid off tonight with the trio qualifying for swims on Saturday, including senior Sarah Heithaus, and juniors Sydney Anderson and Gillian Monnett.”

Menzel thought his team had more great swims from three swimmers who qualified for Saturday’s consolation finals in two events — sophomores Zoe Weltz (200 IM, 100 fly) and Brooke Boswell (200 IM, 100 back) and freshman Caroline Gooch (200 free, 500 free).

“Topping off our individual efforts for the night was a consolation-qualifying 100 free swim from sophomore sprinter Katie White,” Menzel said. “I am very happy with all our performances, and with all three relays placed in the top eight for finals, I know that there is much more to come for the Lady Tiger Sharks.”

The diving competition begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with the swimming consolation and finals starting at 1 p.m.

Avon Sectional girls' swimming preliminaries

Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay — 1, Cascade (Eleanor Thompson SO, Caroline Glaze JR, Jenna Smith SO, Kiara McGuyre JR), 1:53.92. 6, Greencastle (Brooke Boswell SO, Sarah Heithaus SR, Zoe Weltz JR, Katie White JR), 2:03.15. 7, South Putnam (Keeli Pastore SO, Abigail Teipen SR, Caitlyn Phillips FR, Evvie Timberman SR), 2:03.98. 9, North Putnam (Josie Lyons SR, Alaina Chew FR, Wyleigh Thomas SO, Keaton Burress FR), 2:22.85.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle — 1, Haley Sakbun, Terre Haute South, 1:59.30. 8, Sammi Jones, South Putnam, 2:07.86. 10, Grace Elmore, North Putnam, 2:09.59. 11, Brianna Wisor, Terre Haute North, 2:09.67. 13, Caroline Gooch, Greencastle, 2:10.65. 19, Paige Kaiser, Greencastle, 2:20.71. 20, Sydney Anderson, Greencastle, 2:22.61. 21, Alaina Chew, North Putnam, 2:25.39. 23, Abigail Teipen, South Putnam, 2:29.24. 24, Ally Menke, South Putnam, 2:39.23.

Girls 200 Yard IM — 1, Elle Gilkerson, Plainfield, 2:14.95. 12, Zoe Weltz, Greencastle, 2:29.25. 13, Josie Hutcheson, South Putnam, 2:31.78. 16, Brooke Boswell, Greencastle, 2:37.73. 17, Keeli Pastore, South Putnam, 2:38.91. 19, Sarah Heithaus, Greencastle, 2:45.07.

Girls 50 Yard Freestyle — 1, Hannah Jones, Avon, 25.00. 3, Olivia Headley, Greencastle, 25.56. 11, Evvie Timberman, South Putnam, 26.69. 14, Madison Trotter, North Putnam, 26.96. 17, Katie White, Greencastle, 27.16. 19, Caitlyn Phillips, South Putnam, 27.23. 24, Annie Hershberger, Greencastle, 28.89. 25, Aubrey Bennett, South Putnam, 28.95. 26, Nicole Huffman, North Putnam, 29.20. 27, Keaton Burress, North Putnam, 29.67.

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly — 1, Anne Demchak, Terre Haute North, 59.88. 10, Zoe Weltz, Greencastle, 1:06.29. 17, Annie Hershberger, Greencastle, 1:16.96. 18, Wyleigh Thomas, North Putnam, 1:18.83. 19, Ally Menke, South Putnam, 1:21.69. 21, Catherine Weeks, Greencastle, 1:31.82.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle — 1, Katilyn Sinclair, Avon, 54.77. 5, Olivia Headley, Greencastle, 56.02. 13, Evvie Timberman, South Putnam, 59.34. 15, Katie White, Greencastle, 1:00.67. 16, Caitlyn Phillips, South Putnam, 1:00.70. 19, Madison Trotter, North Putnam, 1:01.44. 22, Alex Steffy, South Putnam, 1:07.05. 23, Caroline Sullivan, Greencastle, 1:07.56. 24, Grace Kinkead, North Putnam, 1:10.66. 27, Taylor Hensley, North Putnam, 1:18.19.

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle — 1, Haley Sakbun, Terre Haute South, 5:16.75. 9, Sammi Jones, South Putnam, 5:43.89. 12, Grace Elmore, North Putnam, 5:56.25. 13, Caroline Gooch, Greencastle, 5:59.43. 19, Paige Kaiser, Greencastle, 6:22.16. 20, Alaina Chew, North Putnam, 6:30.71. 21, Gillian Monnett, Greencastle, 6:42.76. 23, Haylee Romalia, South Putnam, 6:57.53.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Plainfield (Samantha Meier JR, Lucia Engle-Wilkerson JR, Josie Heyob FR, Hallie Meier FR), 1:45.85. 2, Greencastle (Katie White JR, Caroline Gooch FR, Zoe Weltz JR, Olivia Headley SO), 1:47.14. 7, South Putnam (Caitlyn Phillips FR, Josie Hutcheson SO, Aubrey Bennett SO, Sammi Jones JR), 1:52.95. 8, North Putnam (Madison Trotter SR, Josie Lyons SR, Nicole Huffman SO, Grace Elmore JR), 1:56.00.

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke — 1, Hannah Jones, Avon, 59.26. 9, Brooke Boswell, Greencastle, 1:07.20. 15, Keeli Pastore, South Putnam, 1:10.45. 18, Aubrey Bennett, South Putnam, 1:14.19. 20, Caroline Sullivan, Greencastle, 1:17.14. 21, Haylee Romalia, South Putnam, 1:19.72. 22, Abigail Beauchamp, Greencastle, 1:21.82. 23, Josie Lyons, North Putnam, 1:24.00. 24, Nicole Huffman, North Putnam, 1:26.62.

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke — 1, Elle Gilkerson, Plainfield, 1:07.83. 7, Josie Hutcheson, South Putnam, 1:13.10. 11, Abigail Teipen, South Putnam, 1:18.43. 14, Gillian Monnett, Greencastle, 1:22.92. 15, Sydney Anderson, Greencastle, 1:23.17. 16, Sarah Heithaus, Greencastle, 1:23.56. 23, Gillian Jones, South Putnam, 1:50.13.

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Plainfield (Kylie Knutson JR, Lucia Engle-Wilkerson JR, Maggie McGuire SR, Sydney Srnka JR), 3:47.32. 7, South Putnam (Sammi Jones JR, Keeli Pastore SO, Aubrey Bennett SO, Evvie Timberman SR), 4:16.71. 8, Greencastle (Caroline Gooch FR, Annie Hershberger SR, Paige Kaiser JR, Caroline Sullivan SO), 4:17.02. 9, North Putnam (Madison Trotter SR, Alaina Chew FR, Wyleigh Thomas SO, Grace Elmore JR), 4:20.58.