Carmel wins 29th straight girls swimming state title

Ordinarily, a record-tying 29th consecutive state championship would be momentous.

Yet what Carmel swimmers did over the weekend at the Natatorium at IUPUI was more extraordinary than that. Call it Jordan-esque. The Greyhounds all but secured a sixth national championship in seven years – awarded by Swimming World magazine – and emphatically answered the question:

Are they the best high school team ever in girls swimming?

"I thought we got to ask that question to ourselves," coach Chris Plumb said. "Our goal was to figure out how to be that. We knew we had to perform, really, today. We called it the fourth quarter. We talked about Michael Jordan, we talked about Tom Brady and those guys living up to their billing in the fourth quarter."

So is this team the best ever?

"I would say yes to that today," Plumb said.

Carmel won nine of 11 swimming events, broke national records in all three relays and finished first Saturday with 445 points – most ever in 41 years of Indiana's state meet. Carmel's 266-point margin over second-place Fishers was also a record.

Amy Bilquist and Claire Adams won two races each, and each swam on two Carmel relays. Counting records broken and re-broken in the same event, the Greyhounds set 13 state records in less than 24 hours. They sent every swimmer from preliminaries to finals, and their 445 points represented 82 percent of the maximum 544 possible.

Maybe the Greyhounds will be invited to the White House. After all, they tied the record for successive state titles set in boys swimming by Honolulu's Punahou High School – which happens to be President Barack Obama's alma mater.

CONSECUTIVE HIGH SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

29 Carmel, girls swimming, 1986-2015

29 Honolulu Punahou, boys swimming, 1958-86

27 Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles School, boys swimming, 1988-2014

27 Pickford (Mich.), boys track and field, 1952-78

26 Woonsocket (R.I.) Mt. St. Charles Academy, hockey, 1978-2003

26 St. Xavier, Louisville, Ky., boys swimming, 1989-2014

If opponents are envious of Carmel, they are also respectful. Arising for 5:30 a.m. practices and training 30 miles a week is not for cowards.

"They work so hard, and they all deserve it," said Zionsville senior Taite Kitchel, who represents the Carmel Swim Club during the summer season. She finished third in the 200-yard individual medley.

Carmel finished and started Saturday's finals with a flourish.

Veronica Burchill, Adams, Kendall Smith and Bilquist closed it out by obliterating the national record in the 400-yard freestyle relay, nearly winning by the length of the 25-yard pool. They lowered the record by five seconds to 3 minutes, 15.38 seconds – which would have placed 13th in last year's NCAA meet. Burchill's 48.48 leadoff was nearly as fast as Bilquist's state record of 48.36 in the 100 freestyle, and Bilquist herself anchored in 47.70.

Bilquist is a University of California-bound senior and the three others all juniors.

The Greyhounds opened with a national record of 1:39.25 in the 200 medley relay by Sammie Burchill, Alex Clarke, Veronica Burchill and Bilquist. Sammie is a sophomore.

"It kind of got the ball rolling for the entire meet," Veronica said. "It was a great sister moment."

Both times were also national age-group (15-18) records – an extreme rarity in a high school meet.

Bilquist tied her own state record of 22.15 in the 50 freestyle. Veronica Burchill broke her own state record to win the 100 butterfly in 52.26. Those two, plus Adams in the 100 backstroke, came up short in bids for national records in individual events.

Nobody's perfect.

"This is just a step in their career," said Plumb, whose long-term plan aims toward the 2016 Olympic Trials.

Burchill led off the record-breaking 200 freestyle relay in 22.29, nearly as fast as Bilquist's 50 free record. Following were Adams, Smith and freshman Trude Rothrock.

Adams and sophomore Emma Nordin supplied a 1-2 finish in the 200 freestyle, although they couldn't break Adams' state record of 1:45.09. Adams next year could equal the four-year sweep by Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Benko of Elkhart (1991-94) in that event.

Nordin won the 500 freestyle in 4:45.87, just off the state record of 4:45.09 she set in prelims. She beat fellow sophomore Hannah Kukurugya of Crown Point, the defending champion.

Bilquist called the weekend "the perfect storm," explaining that the Greyhounds wanted to swim better for their teammates than for themselves.

"I definitely think that we took that pressure and channeled it the best way we could," she said. "It never really got to us. We let our swimming speak for itself.

"I really do think that we left a mark on history."

Carmel prefaced its record in the 400 free relay with a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 free by Bilquist, Smith and Rothrock — who seized third out of lane 8.

Adams and sophomore Emma Nordin supplied a 1-2 finish in the 200 freestyle, although they couldn't break Adams' state record of 1:45.09. The time of 1:45.78 was worth a third 200 free title for Adams, who next year could equal the four-year sweep by Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Benko of Elkhart (1991-94).

Nordin won the 500 freestyle in 4:45.87, just off the state record of 4:45.09 she set in prelims. She beat fellow sophomore Hannah Kukurugya of Crown Point, the defending champion.

In the only two finals in which the Greyhounds didn't win — 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke — they had swimmers finish second. Indiana University recruit Lilly King held off Sammie Burchill and Clarke, respectively.

DIVER WINS WITH TEAMMATE OUT

Cardinal Ritter senior Sarah Bacon couldn't defend her state title in diving. She said she received a concussion in a Jan. 28 car collision and wasn't cleared before sectionals.

The car she was driving was "totaled," she said, but she had no other injuries. Bacon, who won her first senior national title last year, said she would be ready for May's world team trials at Bloomington. She plans to train next year for the Olympic Trials, then will enroll at Minnesota.

In Bacon's absence, the champion was her synchronized diving partner, sophomore Brooke Schultz of Hamilton Heights. Schultz, last year's world junior champion on 1-meter, scored 563.65 points to break Bacon's state record of 546.45. Lawrence North senior Morgan Meixner was second with 508.15.

Call Star reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

CARMEL STATE RECAP

National age-group records (2)

200 medley relay (ages 15-18) – 1:39.25, Sammie Burchill, Alex Clarke, Veronica Burchill, Amy Bilquist

400 freestyle relay (ages 15-18) – 3:15.38, Veronica Burchill, Claire Adams, Kendall Smith, Amy Bilquist

National high school records (4)

200 medley relay – 1:39.25, same as above (broke own record of 1:40.33 from Friday's prelims)

200 freestyle relay – 1:30.72, Veronica Burchill, Claire Adams, Kendall Smith, Trude Rothrock

400 freestyle relay – same as above

STATE RECORDS

Points scored – 445

First places – Nine

Victory margin – 266

50 freestyle – 22.15, Amy Bilquist (ties own record from 2014 prelims)

100 freestyle – 48.36, Amy Bilquist (breaks own record of 48.69 from prelims)

200 freestyle – 1:45.09, Claire Adams (Friday prelims); broke record of 1:46.78 by Emma Nordin from previous heat

500 freestyle – 4:45.09, Emma Nordin (Friday prelims)

100 backstroke – 51.99, Claire Adams (Friday prelims)

100 butterfly – 52.26, Veronica Burchill (breaks own record of 52.59 from prelims)

200 medley relay – same as above

200 freestyle relay – same as above

400 freestyle relay – same as above