We can now comfortably say that the 2014 Carmel High School Girls team is the best group of girls that Carmel has ever brought to state! After breaking the National High School Records in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, they finish off the meet with their third National High School Record! The team of Veronica Burchill, Katie Lemen, Kendall Smith, and Claire Adams won the 400 freestyle relay, breaking the National Public School record with a time of 3:21.20. The crazier thought about this relay is that they broke the record without Amy Bilquist. Bilquist won the 100 free with a state record time of 48.96.
Splits:
- Veronica Burchill – 50.46
- Katie Lemen – 51.74
- Kendall Smith – 50.30
- Claire Adams – 48.70
Crown Point put up a great relay, finishing second with a time of 3:22.03. They were also under the previous National High School Record.
Splits:
- Racheal Bukowski – 51.93
- Aly Tetzloff – 48.69
- Hannah Kukurugya – 49.96
- Mackenzie Artim – 51.45
The previous record was set at 3:22.85 by Hershey HS in 2011.
What Carmel accomplished at this meet is chilling. Bolles School broke all three relay records in one meet, but stacked all three of their relays with their top swimmers. Not to take away from what the boys from Bolles School accomplished, but Carmel threw up a normal line up. Each swimmer swam their two individual races and filled in where they could on the relay. Carmel High School showcased their top speed and incredible depth, and in this writers opinion, swam the best high school meet in history.
Wow. A lot of feisty Carmel supporters lashing out against people who are bringing up the TRUTH about Carmel and their recruiting process. Yes, they DO recruit…they recruited two boys from my son’s team just this past year. And, yes, many, if not most of the top-placed girls never swam for Carmel until highschool. Yes, they moved across the country to come to Carmel. And yes, it’s illegal to recruit. Now why won’t IHSAA do anything about it? Well, hmmm…because to them it’s a great story that brings national attention to Indiana. The girls swam great, no doubt. But I would be way more impressed with this team if the girls were born and raised in Carmel and pulled off… Read more »
You can’t deny Carmel is insanely fast. I can attest to the intense and grueling workouts done at Carmel High School. But isn’t it interesting.. and very ironic.. Bilquist moved from AZ to Carmel at age 16, Smith moved from WI to Carmel at age 15, House moved from Ft. Wayne to Carmel at age 15, Lemen moved from Fishers to Carmel at age 15, and Clarke also moved from Fishers to Carmel at age 15. Wait a second.. all five of those girls didn’t swim at Carmel before starting high school?! Isn’t it also interesting that all five of those girls were on the 3 incredible state relay performances? So let’s look at numbers.. the 3 relays at state… Read more »
Wow you sure sound like you know your stuff but you don’t. Carmel is lead by excellence and leadership. The parents do their homework to see where their children can prosper at their highest level. As I said their parents do their homework; however, it appears you do not because Bilquist moved to Indiana as a junior and had swam two years of high school in AZ. Clarke had swam in many different teams in Indiana before Carmel so you can argue the same fact that those teams wanted her as well. House and Smith have grown greatly since at Carmel. House achieving an Olympic trial cut and Smith performing extremely well at State. Also, since I grew up in… Read more »
I can tell you that House’s family stayed in Fort Wayne (where she grew up and swam until her junior year) while she moved to Carmel. How did she go there without her family then if carmel didn’t have something special set up for her?? She couldn’t win her sectional events in ft wayne so she handled it by going to a different school rather than face the competition. It is pretty sketchy. Yes carmel makes these girls faster. It is a great club but the way they get their athletes doesn’t exactly follow the rules of ihsaa swimming. This is high school swimming not college and recruiting isn’t allowed
Also she still got beat by the girl who topped her in Fort Wayne once she moved to carmel so the move didn’t exactly help in that respect
As a college swimmer, I’m sincerely impressed with the Indiana state meet this year. Those girls are speedy! I’m apart of the MAC conference and I’m not ready to race against Carmel swimmer, Katie Leman (since she’ll be at Ohio in the fall). Overall spectacular meet- truly shows how much the sport of swimming is improving.
To those who think they know what happens at the Carmel swim level, we can personally attest to the recruiting process. Our family was moving into the Indianapolis area and the coach from Carmel was actively pursuing our son to swim for Carmel. It was very uncomfortable and what we were told sounded very “illegal” in regards to high school swimming. We contacted the IHSAA and voiced our concern, they took a report but basically told us nothing would happen to the program or school without “documented proof”.
Yes, congrats to the Carmel Swim Club & girls. Open your eyes. Look what’s going to happen. Donnie Brush to FAST. Carmel Swim Club has no 10 & U’s or much 11 & 12’s (boys or girls) of any significance. Their age group program use to be formidable & pipeline filled about 4-6 yrs. ago. They’ve lost all their coaches which use to directly work with 10 & U’s; now Carmel’s backfilled those positions with coaches that instruct only the older kids. Sure they are good now, but once that 8th-9th grade class graduates in 3-4 years, Carmel will really struggle & you will see HSE & Fishers show their dominance.
Yep. Did it again. Amazing how this team is able to buck the system and recruit in athletes like bilquist, house, et al from other programs. This program continues the be the biggest farce for those who truly know. Such a shame that they continue to get away with it and the IhSAA turns a blind eye to their tactics…shame shame shame
Keep drinking the Cool-Aid. The truth is both Bilquist and House have significantly improved their best times by a great deal since joining the Carmel program. Look for Bilquist to get even faster at next years HS meet. If you read what she said in the Indy Star – she said that she could have gone anywhere locally but chose Carmel because it is the premier program in the country (fact check). Carmel recruiting is done by program leadership not by telephone calls and pay-offs as you believe.
Those who truly know….bitter much? recruited Bilquist from AZ? that’s impressive. yes they were fortunate to get her but that’s what families with elite athletes do -choose a program where they are moving that is a good fit. Give credit where credit is due, they swam fast and should be proud of what they accomplished. Congratulations to the Carmel girls.
First, congrats to the coaches, athletes and parents of Camel on a truly impressive performance from top to bottom at your state championships. I know nothing of the allegations you purpose; however, as one of Amy Bilquist’s former club coaches I felt compelled to post regarding “A Real Indiana Swimming Dad’s” comment. I can say with 100% certainty that the Bilquist family did NOT move to Indiana because of swimming but rather due to a job situation. To take it a step further, the coaching staff at Carmel didn’t even know Amy would be joining their program until after the family had decided to move to Indiana. Why not simply celebrate some truly incredible performances rather than trying to knock… Read more »
Oops, Carmel, not Camel.
Why was Waukesha South in Wisconsin never accredited for their 400 free record this past November? They were in fact the previous holders of the record with a 3:22.50 not Hershey.
But it really doesn’t matter since Carmel has topped both times now!
Insane meet. Congrats to all the girls at this meet. Incredibly fast swimming.