Domination! CHS girls win 27th consecutive sectional by winning 7 of 12 events, taking second in the other five as sectional, pool and school records fall and Trojans looking at possibility of having at least one athlete in all 12 events at state

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

To appreciate just how dominate a performance the Chesterton girls swim and dive team had Saturday in winning the Valparaiso sectional, consider that the Trojans won 7 of 12 events, finished second in the other five, and had a swimmer beat the cut time for an automatic spot in the state field in four of the five second-place finishes.
“At this meet we might have been 100% lifetime best times in either prelims or finals,” head swim coach Jenni Anderson said. “Every swim. Every girl.”
The Trojans very well could have at 100% participation in the events at the state meet next state meet at IU Indianapolis this coming Friday and Saturday.
If, as expected, senior Tegan Werner’s second-place time in the 100-yard butterfly was good enough to land her a callback when the IHSAA rounds out the field to 32 swimmers in each event, Chesterton will have at least one swimmer in all 11 races. If a diver or two qualifies for state, Trojans will compete in all 12 events.
The Chesterton sectional champions and their marks: junior Adalyn Laughner, 200-yard individual medley (2:03.22, a pool record), 100 backstroke (55.65, a pool record); sophomore Brenley Bonez, 50 freestyle (23.01); sophomore Bella Walters (1-meter diving, 355.80), senior Peyton Ostertag, 500 free (5:09.27), the 200 free relay with freshmen Brynn Law and Makenzie Soto and seniors Werner and Ostertag swimming (1:36.15) and the 400 free relay of Ostertag, Werner, Laughner and Bonez (3:26.16, sectional and pool record).
Second-place finishers who came in under the state cut time to qualify for state: 200 medley relay with Laughner, Bonez, and freshmen Reese Kellstrom and Brynn Law swimming (1:43.41); Ostertag, 200 free (1:53.21); Bonez, 100 breaststroke (1:00.85, breaks her own school record); Law, 100 free (52.03).
Sectional results determine the state-bound swimmers, but the diving field isn’t determined until the diving regionals. Sectional champion Walters and junior Ruby Fowler, fourth at the sectional, advanced to the regional round, which is scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT at Mishawaka. The top eight divers in each of the four regionals advance to the state meet, next Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis.
“We’re taking a big group down this year,” Kellstrom said.
Werner, who will continue her swim career at Tufts University in Boston after graduating this spring, will compete at the state meet for the fourth time and never has had this many athletes join her.
“It was a really good all-around meet for us,” Werner said. “It’ll be really fun. My freshman year there were only six people who went down. It’s crazy how many more will go this year.”
Junior Patricia Ozimek and freshman Taylor Ryan, who tied for third place in the 100 breaststroke, swam the race in 1:06.58. After the meet they were awaiting word on whether that would enable them to get into the state field.
Senior Lux Mountford contributed 32 points with a pair of third-place finishes, logging her best times in the 100 free (53.78) and 200 free (1:55.70).
The point totals for the schools at the sectional: 1. Chesterton 542, 2. Valparaiso 483, 3. LaPorte 204, 4. Hobart 197, 5. Portage 191, 6. Kankakee Valley 180, 7. Wheeler 116, 8. Michigan City 57, 9. Merrillville 51, 10. Knox 46, 11. Andrean 38, 12. North Judson-San Pierre 24, 13. Boone Grove 21, 14. South Central Union Mills 18, 15. Calumet 15.
Awarding a fourth of the relay points to each swimmer, here are the points each athlete contributed to Chesterton’s total: Laughner 58.5, Ostertag 57, Bonez 55.5, Werner 53, Law 50.5, Soto 40, Kellstrom 37.5, Mountford 32, Ryan 30.5, Draves 30, Ozimek 29.5, Walters 20, Natalie Pieters 17, Emily Hofmann 16, Ruby Fowler 15.
Chesterton winning by such a wide margin in pushing its streak to 27 consecutive sectional titles required outstanding depth considering the quality of Valparaiso elite swimmers Maddie Moreth, Abby Lee, Amiah Sparks and others.
Moreth and Bonez again brought out the best in each other in the 100 breaststroke. Moreth, defending state champion in the event, won Saturday’s race with a 59.51. Bonez defeated Moreth in a dual meet at Chesterton and Moreth won the event at the DAC Championship.
Bonez qualified in all four of her races, the first, fourth, 11th and 12th events of the meet. Laughner and Ozimek also qualified in four races.
“I’m really happy how this meet went for me,” said Laughner, who set pool records in her two events and the 400 relay. “I definitely felt ready at practice yesterday. I felt strong and then shaving and having a brand new suit definitely helps a lot.”
Swimming can get expensive for the athletes this time of year.
“I’ll probably wear this suit for prelims and then a brand-new one for the final,” Laughner said.
Money well-spent. Laughner has committed to swim at Purdue University.