2015 Swammy Awards: Carmel High Girls, High School Team of the Year

Check out all of our 2015 Swammy Awards here.

2015 High School Team of the Year: Carmel High School Girls (Carmel, IN)

The Carmel girls absolutely dominated the 2015 IHSAA Girls State Championships, and it’s not like it was anything new. They’ve won 30 state titles in total (girls swimming at the HS level was instated in 1974 in Indiana, so they’ve won titles for roughly 3/4 of the history of Indiana girls’ swimming) and this was their 29th straight title in 2015.

This team has speed everywhere, as they were led by (now former) World Junior Record holder Claire Adams and top-flight sprinters Amy Bilquist and Veronica Burchill. Adams is committed to swim for Texas, Bilquist is a freshman at Cal, and Burchill has committed to Georgia. They are VERY legit. In 2014, Carmel was the first high school team to ever break all three national HS relay records, and they did it again this year. They won nine of the eleven swimming events this past season at state, and also trounced every state record save for the 100 breast, 200 IM, and– no, wait, that’s it. Need I italicize anything else to get the point across? These girls are incredible.

What’s even scarier is how well their other swimmers fared at the meet this past season, and how little recognition they’ve received due to how fast their big guns went. Emma Nordin, a junior at Carmel this year, broke 1:47 in the 200 free prelims and then finished up 2nd behind Adams in finals, adding a win in the 500 free with a state record in prelims. Kendall Smith was runner-up in the 50 and 100 free, nearly breaking 23 seconds in the former, while Sammie Burchill, Veronica’s younger sister, took U.S. Winter National champ Lilly King to the last 5 yards in her runner-up efforts in the 200 IM. She broke 2 minutes in that race, and added a 2nd place finish behind Adams in the 100 back at 54.35. Carmel impresses year after year, and this year they really blew away any sort of competition.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In no particular order

  • Madison Memorial Boys (Wisconsin): Madison Memorial won its 5th straight Wisconsin D1 title, scoring 350.5 points which marked the 2nd highest score in Wisconsin D1 history. Justin Temprano won the 100 back, Ben Gebhart the 100 fly, and Alex Peterson-Weber tied for the 50 free title. Furthermore, Madison Memorial topped the field in both the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay. In the latter, they broke a D1 state record that was set in 2005 by their own team.
  • Sacred Heart Girls  (Kentucky): En route to their third straight team title, the Valkyries steamrolled their way to 8 wins out of 12 possible events. They were led by a nucleus which is becoming well known in the U.S. junior ranks: Kennedy Lohman and Brooke Forde both competed for the American World Jr Champs squad, and the names Asia SeidtBrooke Bauer and Leah Stevens round out five standouts who also compete together on the Lakeside Swim Team. Lohman, Forde, Stevens, and Seidt each scored an individual win along with diver Erin Duffey, while they swept the three relays. The Valkyries scored 486 points, crushing the competition as the only team to push past 300 in the state.
  • Southlake Carroll Boys (Texas): Winning the Texas 6A Championships for their fifth year in a row, the Southlake Carroll boys were led by Carson Klein, who was a double champion after taking both the 200 and 500 freestyle races. Freshman Jack LeVant scored in the top 8 in both the 50 free and 100 fly while lending his hand to two of the Dragons’ top-5 relays. In addition, Nathaniel Hernandez took top honors in 1-meter diving.
  • Fossil Ridge Boys (Colorado): Fossil Ridge had only one individual champion last season in freshman Danny Kovac (100 back). They also took the 200 free relay by a single hundredth and finished in the top 8 in a host of other events. But it wasn’t about decimating the competition, or preserving a historic title streak for Fossil Ridge; this would mark only the 2nd time that Regis Jesuit would be upended in 21 years, and it came at the hands of Fossil Ridge. The team capped off a perfect dual, invitational, and conference season with their title.

In This Story

10
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

10 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Confused fan
8 years ago

What about Omaha Creighton Prep? Prep beat Madison Memorial at the 2015 Maroon and Gold invite last January and went on to win their 9th state title. They set a record for points scored at the state meet and won all three relays along with five individual titles. They finished 9th nationally ahead of Madison Memorial.

Max Tempkin
8 years ago

James Daugherty needs to receive recognition. He is among the elite breaststrokers in the country. Bolles boys are stacked from top to bottom

James Daugherty
8 years ago

Tyler Rice is the sole reason Bolles wins this. Period.

Ariel Spektor
8 years ago

What about Maxwell Tempkin and Grant Hill from the Bolles School? Those are some kids with exceptional talents! Rising Stars!

Tyler Rice
8 years ago

Yes, especially James Daugherty for Bolles, that kid has got talent in the breastroke

Uberfan
8 years ago

No honorable mention for brophy? They won their 28th consecutive state title.

Max Tempkin
8 years ago

What about Bolles boys? Last time I checked they have 4 boys in Andy Song, James Daugherty, Ariel Spektor, and Tyler Rice that have made a name on the national stage both relays and individuals

Tyler Rice
Reply to  Max Tempkin
8 years ago

Where is the mention of the worlds most interesting swimmer, and Florida 1A state champ, Scott Bole. Cmon man!

Sophie
8 years ago

Okay irrelevant—as I usually am—but USA swimming posted the 2016 Futures Map and can anyone make sense of it? Boundaries, colours, and 4 different locations are definitely a bit more confusing.

Also, it seems there wasn’t a post on the CA/NV Sectionals that occurred this past weekend at ELAC. Some very impressive swim there. I was particularly impressed by Maxime Rooney (especially his 1:33 200free).

bobo gigi
Reply to  Sophie
8 years ago

Thanks for reminding me that meet from last weekend. I’ve missed it.
I’ve looked quickly at the results.
http://www.socalswim.org/live-results/2015WinterSect
Considering he’s much better in long course (in my opinion) and he wasn’t probably much rested, yes, that was a great meet for Mr Rooney.

Men’s 100 fly
1. Rooney in 46.63 New PB
2. Condorelli in 46.72

Men’s 100 back
1. Maxime Rooney in 47.79 New PB

Men’s 200 fly
1. Rooney in 1.44.23 New PB

Men’s 200 free
1. Maxime Rooney in 1.33.82 New PB. It was 1.34.57

Men’s 100 free
1. Rooney in 42.76 New PB. It was 43.58
Teammates Condorelli and Weitzeil only swam the men’s and women’s 100 free prelims respectively in 43.47 and 48.14.

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

Read More »