Norah Johnson of Greenfield=Central sees a fan in the stands after her race during Saturday’s swimming state finals at the IUPUI Natatorium.
Chris Williams | Daily Journal
Staff report
INDIANAPOLIS — With individuals or relays in five events, Greenfield-Central scored 27 points and finished 17th, best in program history, in Saturday’s IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving State Finals at the IU Natatorium.
Senior Norah Johnson swam in four of the five events.
She earned G-C its best finishes, placing 10th in both the 100-yard freestyle and 100 breaststroke events. Johnson had a time of 52.47 seconds in the freestyle and 1:05 in the breaststroke.
The 10th-place finishes are also a best for the program at the state finals.
She was also part of both relay teams that qualified for Saturday’s meet.
In order, Alyssa Osborn, Johnson, Mary Ellen Stratman and Rachel Sturtz scored a team-best eight points, placing 13th in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:48.64.
And, like team and individually, the relay’s placing was another school-best.
“(Norah) had two great swims in her individual events,” head coach Emily Logan said. “And, had strong performances on the relays. It made for a nice finish for her and Mary Ellen, especially as seniors. They’ve given so much to this program. For them to have a great senior season and finish out that way as seniors at state, where they kind of started their careers, is pretty special.”
Both Johnson and Stratman qualified for state in each of their four high school seasons.
Johnson, Sturtz, Osborn and Cecelia Duffy-Johnson finished 15th with a time of 1:38.79.
Osborn placed 16th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:08.46.
To get to the finals, the team broke four school records in Friday’s prelims.
The 200 medley relay, Osborn in the 200 IM, Johnson in the 100 free and in her 50-yard split of the 200 free relay, all set new marks in the qualifying round.
“Two sophomores, a freshman and a junior all on the crew that were there over the weekend,” Logan added. “Yes, we graduate three seniors (including Reagan Crouch) from that crew, but it’s a phenomenal experience and it builds into next year. We had some incoming eighth graders that were there that watched the meet and their eyes were big and have big goals and want to be a part of it.
“We have nine incoming freshmen coming in that swim club with us that are going to be big additions off the bat. That’s exciting to see.”
Carmel won the state meet with 498 points, more than doubling that of second-place Fishers with 233.
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