JASPER – Bedford North Lawrence’s Ava Lipp earned the top seed in the 200-yard individual medley during the IHSAA girls swimming sectional prelims on Thursday night.
The finals and consolations are scheduled for Saturday. The winner in each event will automatically qualify for the state finals on Feb. 9 at IUPUI.
Lipp claimed the top spot with a time of 2:22.12. She was also second in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.29.
“Ava probably had the top overall performance with stunning drops in every race, including her 200 IM where she will be the favorite going into Saturday,” BNL coach Adam Young said. “She broke a minute in the 100 for the first time, popped a :26 in her 50 free and topped it off with a lifetime best in the backstroke, grabbing the 2 seed.”
Other BNL swimmers earning spots in the finals included Mia Manke (fifth in the 200 freestyle in 2:10.35 and seventh in the 100 backstroke in 1:09.87) and Cookie King (sixth in the 200 free in 2:10.88, and fourth in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.40).
The Stars also finished fourth in the 200 free relay (Manke, King, Lipp and Emma Heinzman clocked 1:49.89) and fourth in the 400 free relay (that same foursome posted 4:10.27).
“The girls absolutely crushed it,” Young said. “No other team had the kinds of drops our girls did tonight. Mia dropped 15 seconds in her 200, Amelia Rich dropped 10 in her 200 and 20 in her 500. Cookie King had a large drop in her 200 free. If we didn’t have 100-percent lifetime bests, we were darn close.
“They just all did amazing and I couldn’t be prouder. The work isn’t done yet. We have to come back Saturday and perform at a top level again. I think there are a lot of time drops still to come.”
