Chesterton places first or second in all 12 events to dominate Girls DAC Swim and Dive Championships, pushing streak to 27 in a row

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Even in a meet that drew as many big names as the DAC Girls Swim and Dive Championships, held Saturday at Valparaiso High School, Chesterton lapped the field.
Banking on exceptional swimmers Abby Lee, Maddie Moreth and Amiah Sparks, Valpo won four individual events and one relay. Lake Central’s Abigail Campbell won two races and Crown Point’s Kaitlin Flewelling placed first in the diving competition. Great athletes performing at their best, every one of them.
Even so, no school came close to Chesterton when the final points were tallied. The Trojans won their 27th consecutive girls DAC title without breaking a sweat.
The final standings: 1. Chesterton 518, 2. Valparaiso 433, 3. Crown Point 364, 4. Lake Central 292, 5. Portage 151, 6. LaPorte 148, 7. Merrillville 70, 8. Michigan City 57.
Trojans Brenley Bonez and Adalyn Laughner, led the way, each taking a first and a second in individual races and each swimming for relays that took a first and a second.
Valpo edged Chesterton in the medley relay and the Trojans took first in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400 free relay.
So, even though Chesterton didn’t have the most first-place finishes, getting edged, 5-4, by Valpo, the Trojans won by a big margin. Here’s how: Chesterton finished second in the eight events it did not win, and the show of depth, particularly in the freshmen and senior classes, didn’t stop there. Thirds and fourths and fifths, etc., accomplished with lifetime best times coming from all four classes bloated the point total.
A look at the 15 Chesterton athletes who scored double-figures points, by class, excluding the relay races: Freshmen (117 points): Brynn Law 33, Mackenzie Soto 29, Reese Kellstrom 28, Taylor Ryan 27; seniors (113): Peyton Ostertag 34, Tegan Werner 32, Lux Mountford 31, Natalie Pieters 16; juniors (93): Laughner 37, Patricia Ozimek 29, Ruby Fowler 15, Emily Hofmann 12; sophomores (81): Bonez 37, Kennedy Draves 27, Bella Walters 17.
Ostertag, Werner, Laughner and Bonez set a DAC record in the day’s final event, the 400 free relay, and that was with Bonez swimming the anchor that directly followed the 100 breaststroke, where Bonez swam her lifetime best time (1:00.92), yet again lowering her school record, only to be edged by Moreth (1:00.21), who won state last season with a 1:00.58. Bonez also had a lifetime best by winning the 50 free (23.18), one of many events in which Chesterton flexed its depth muscles. Law (24.08) placed third, Werner (24.19) fourth. The 100 breast was another depth showcase with Ozimek (1:07.08) and Ryan (1:08.26) following Bonez to the wall. Same for the 100 backstroke, where Laughner, the winner in 56.15, was joined by Draves (59.35) and Kellstrom (1:00.3).
Law, Soto, Werner and Ostertag won the 200 free relay in 1:36.39, and Laughner (backstroke), Bonez (breaststroke), Kellstrom (butterfly) and Law (freestyle) took second in the medley relay.
In keeping with long-standing tradition, Chesterton’s entire team, regardless of whether they were wearing swimsuits, jumped off the diving board, one by one, to celebrate the feet, including head coach Jenni Kellstrom and assistants Rich Ostertag, Alexis Orange and Elijah Mercado, the diving coach.
It never gets old.
“No, it doesn’t,” the head coach said. “Especially not when it’s by that size of a margin.”
It was accomplished with very little tapering, just three days of a slight reduction in the workout load, Bonez said.
“Very proud of them, we’re all excited to start tapering for sectionals here soon,” said Kellstrom the coach, not her daughter the swimmer, who had three lifetime best times in three swims. “We have a little bit longer of some intense training. We didn’t deviate much from our usual for this. This was just a good performance by them. We came into this with our focus on state, and they still showed up anyway, very proud of them. Incredible!”