CLUB OLYMPIA COMPETES AT 2024 INDIANA SWIMMING SOUTHEAST DIVISIONALS
This past weekend, 47 Club Olympia swimmers who had previously qualified by achieving Divisional qualifying time standards during the 2023-2024 short course season competed in the Indiana Swimming 2024 Southeast Divisional Championship meet at Center Grove High School hosted by the Center Grove Aquatic Club. Each year, Divisional Championships are held at seven regional sites around the state with swimmers hoping to achieve top 8 podium finishes and Age Group State at or Senior State Championship qualifying at times. This year, 21 teams competed at this Divisionial Championship site.
For the weekend, Club Olympia swimmers competed in 170 individual and relay events, claiming personal lifetime bests in 75% of the swims, leading to 84 Top-8 podium medals, which included seven first place finishes. Club Olympia achieved nine new Age Group State and five new Senior State Championships qualifying times.
Leading the team in individual wins were Todd Hundley and Cavan Stilson, both swimming in the Boy’s Open age group. Hundley took first in the 400 IM and 200 Back while Stilson won the 200 Free and 100 Back. Vivan Shah, competing in the Boy’s 10&U age group, won the 50 Back while Rebeca and Camila Mejia Murguia, both competing in the Girl’s 11-12 division, won the 50 Fly and 100 Breaststroke, respectively.
Club Olympia relays faired well throughout the weekend claiming three first place medals led by the 10&U Boy’s relays, including Shah, Arash Thokade, Vihaan Gallege, Chad Pendleton, Sarthak Deshmukh, Aahan Gupta and Max Tempest, winning both the 200 Free and 200 Medley Relays. The Mejia Murguia’s combined with Lexi Miller and Lily Pendleton to win the 11-12 Girls 200 Free Relay.
Several other swimmers achieved Top-8 podium finishes to earn medals during the weekend. In addition to his win in the 50 Back, Shah placed 2nd in the 100 Back, 3rd in the 200 IM, 4th in the 100 Free, 6th in the 200 Free and 7th in the 50 Free. Also in 10&U events were Sarthak Deshmuk placing 4th in the 50 Back and 5th in the 100 Back & 200 IM; Cali Gray finishing in 3rd in the 50 Fly, 5th in the 50 Free, 6th in the 100 Fly and 100 & 200 Free, and 7th in the 200 IM; Myra Jaryal placing 2nd in the 50 Fly and 6th in the 100 Breast; Arash Thokade finishing in 4th in the 50 Fly and 8th in the 50 Back; Chad Pendleton getting 2nd in the 50 Breast; Ahaan Gupta finishing in 3rd in the 50 Breast; Eva Rayomand placing 6th in the 50 Fly; and, Max Tempest placing 6th in the 200 IM. Jaryal, Tempest and Thokade are just 8 years old, so their performances against swimmers up to two years older than them were very impressive.
In the 11-12 division, Rebeca Mejia Murguia also claimed 3rd in the 200 IM, 4th in the 100 Fly, and 7th in the 50 Free, 100 Free and 200 Breast. Lexi Miller placed 2nd in the 100 and 500 Free, 5th in the 50 and 200 Back, and 5th in the 14&U 1650 Free (mile) and 8th in the 100 Back. Kay Payne took 3rd in the 100 Fly, 4th in the 500 Free, 5th in the 200 IM, 7th in the 50 Breast and 8th in the 50 Free. Lily Pendleton was 4th in the 100 Free, 5th in the 100 Fly, and 6th in the 50, 200 and 500 Free. Xavier Zhang finished 2nd in the 200 IM, 3rd in the 500 Free, 4th in the 200 Free, 5th in the 50 Back and 6th in the 100 Free. Shreyan Kulkarni was 3rd in the 50 Breast and 6th in the 100 Breast while taking 9th in the 14&U 1650 Free. Also competing in the 11-12 age group, Aashka Shah was 6th in the 50 Breast and 50 Fly, 7th in the 100 Breast and 8th in the 100 Fly; Arjun Agarkar was 4th in the 50 Fly, 5th in the 200 IM, and 6th in the 50 Free and 100 Fly; and, Daxton Wolf climbed the podium twice with a 7th place finish in the 100 Breast and 8th place finish in the 50 Fly.
In the 13-14 and Open divisions, Advika Badve was 7th in the 100 Breast, Sanaa Kulkarni grabbed 4th in the 400 IM and 5th in the 200 IM and Ethan Hall was 6th in the 200 Back. Keaton Stephenson was 2nd in the 100 Free and 6th in the 50 Free, while Todd Hundley added a 3rd in the 500 Free in addition to the two wins each for himself and Cavan Stilson.
Club Olympia Relay results also included 2nd and 7th place finishes as well as 2nd and 8th place finishes for the 11-12 year old Boys A and B Relays in both the 200 Medley and 200 Free relays, respectively. These teams included Xavier Zhang, Adir Joshi, Shreyan Kulkarni, Arjun Agarkar, Daxton Wolf, Landon Cottle, Chris Suo, Shourya Malviya, and Noah Plunkett.
The 10&U Girls Relays of Cali Gray, Bella Zhang, Eva Rayomand, Myra Jaryal, and Bhavika Rastogi combined to take 6th place in both the 200 Free and 200 Medley Relays.
In the Open Boys, Keaton Stephenson, Judah Nickoll, Jasper Nickoll, Todd Hundley, Cavan Stilson, Ethan Hall, Jonah Sciano, and Mason Bean combined to place 4th and 8th in the 200 Free and 5th and 7th in the 200 Medley Relay, with their respective A and B Relay teams.
Club Olympia now turns its focus to the final week of training before the Indiana Swimming Age Group State Championships, March 15-17, with 15 athletes qualified to swim in individual events and/or on relays.
