FISHERS, Ind. —
Madison County sent plenty of representatives to the Hamilton Southeastern sectional, but slow swim times limited the number of girls who advanced to two.
Elwood’s Mary Beth Dunnichay set a sectional diving record along the way with a 519.65 score.
She eclipsed the previous mark of 505.20 set last year by Gail Susdorf.
Joining Dunnichay in Tuesday’s regional will be Pendleton Heights’ Hannah Cochran, who finished in third place out of the 18 participants.
The top four divers in each sectional advance to move on to regionals.
Dunnichay is attempting to qualify for her second U.S. Olympic team and has split her time this week between Fishers and the USA Diving Winter National Championships in Iowa City.
She and partner Katherine Bell will compete in the women’s synchronized platform final today.
The high school season has been rewarding for Dunnichay, allowing her to spend time with her friends and compete in front of her family.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Dunnichay said. “I like being on the team with my friends, being able to dive in front of my family, who doesn’t always get to watch me in my competitions because they’re far away. It’s nice. I like it a lot.”
Her goal ultimately was to dive well, but if she broke records along the way that was icing on the cake.
She did both and will prep for regionals when she returns from Iowa.
“It’s always nice to break a record,” said Dunnichay. “I just wanted to come in and dive well, really, and then it’s just a warm up for next week.”
Elwood coach Tammy Harris said that apart from Dunnichay being a great diver, she’s also a great person.
“It’s been a great honor,” said Harris. “She is a very, very sweet girl. She makes sure to always participate with us. She did the lock-in with us, she did everything with us. She didn’t make anyone feel like they didn’t belong. She’s just really, really sweet.”
Things didn’t go so well for Pendleton Heights or Anderson.
Apart from Cochran advancing to regionals, no one else advanced for Jeff Maydak’s Arabians for the first time in years.
Autumn Brown has been to state the past three years, but failed to automatically qualify in any events. She could still earn a spot in next week’s state finals if her time is among the 32 fastest in the state when results from each sectional roll in.
Maydak made note on Friday night that his girls didn’t swim well and might have peaked too early.
He echoed that sentiment on Saturday afternoon.
“We didn’t swim well today, either,” said Maydak. “We didn’t have any automatic qualifiers. There’s a little sliver of hope for Autumn being picked up in that 50 free. We’ll know (later Saturday). We just didn’t swim well this week. We peaked a week too early, and that’s my fault.”
Maydak said Saturday night that he believed she would make the field in the 50 free as the 23rd seed in a field limited to 32 swimmers.
Anderson’s Dave Renz said his girls didn’t swim their best, but he was happy and felt like they overachieved all season.
“Overall, a mixed meet for us,” said Renz. “It wasn’t the best we ever had, but it certainly went better than a lot of people probably would’ve thought we could’ve done. I think we did a good job.”
High School Sports
Related Photos
-
Elwood's Mary Beth Dunnichay smiles from the winner's podium after winning the sectional diving title Saturday at Hamilton Southeastern High School. David Humphrey / For The Herald Bulletin
Discussion
Elwood diver sets record at sectional
- High School Sports
-
-
Tipton bedevils Madison-Grant
The Madison-Grant softball team dug a deep hole on Friday night in the championship game of the Class 2A, Sectional 39 at Eastern High School in Greentown. Trailing 5-0 after four innings, the Argylls scratched their way back into the game, but were on the short end of a 5-4 decision against the Tipton Blue Devils.
-
Indians’ Dabney headed to state
The North Central Boys Track Regional is traditionally one of the toughest in the state with powerhouses Lawrence Central, Ben Davis, Pike and the host Panthers among the competitors
But that didn’t faze Anderson senior Derrick Dabney, who turned in two brilliant performances in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at Thursday’s regional to advance to the state meet at Indiana University in Bloomington next Saturday. -
Roller coaster ride comes to end for Lapel
The Lapel Bulldogs couldn’t overcome one more hurdle in their roller-coaster season on Thursday as they fell to Wapahani 4-1 in the softball championship game of the Class 2A, Sectional 40 at Shenandoah High School.
-
Mason powers Bulldogs into final
The Frankton pitching staff opened the door just a tick Thursday with occasional bouts of wildness. Lapel sophomore Dane Mason blew the door off its hinges with the first multi-homer game of his high school career — including a walk-off grand slam — and the third-ranked Bulldogs stomped the rival Eagles 14-3 to reach this Class 2A baseball sectional final.
-
Panthers upset Tigers in sectional
Elwood used a seven-run third-inning to stun Alexandria 11-5 and advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A baseball sectional at Eastern.
-
Shenandoah bows out with loss to Wapahani
Wapahani’s Red Raiders advanced to the championship game of the Class 2A Frankton Baseball Sectional with a 7-2 win over Shenandoah.
-
Arabians defend softball title
The Pendleton Heights softball team seemed determined Wednesday to both learn from the past and repeat the parts of it that it found favorable.
That combination resulted in a 7-1 victory over Greenfield and the 4A sectional championship.
The Arabians will play the champion from the Roncalli Sectional in Tuesday’s regional at Pendleton Heights at 7 p.m. -
Pendleton Heights survives round one
The bottom of Pendleton Heights’ batting order came up big Wednesday, and the Arabians survived to fight another day in this Class 4A baseball sectional.
Brandon Schnepp, Skyler Reis and Augdan Wilson — PH’s seventh, eighth and ninth hitters — combined to hit 6-for-8 with two doubles, four runs scored and four RBIs. That was enough to keep the Arabians one step ahead of upstart Connersville until a five-run sixth-inning rally broke open the 10-4 victory. -
Tribe snaps out of long sectional funk
The Anderson Indians baseball team didn’t just get a monkey off their collective backs, they knocked it out of the park ... three times.
Behind a trio of home runs and a strong pitching performance by Curtis Wilson, Anderson won its first sectional baseball game in three years. -
Eagles, Bulldogs reach semifinals
Wednesday was a good night if you were a fan of the Frankton-Lapel Community Schools baseball teams as Frankton knocked off Winchester 17-7 and Lapel routed Muncie Burris 5-1 in Class 2A baseball sectional play.
- More High School Sports Headlines
-
