Article by Arv Koontz, The Tribune 

Maren McClure earned a trip to the girls swimming and diving state finals, while Sandy Cerino was in on two school records to highlight performances of the Seymour girls at the Floyd Central Sectional on Saturday.

McClure won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 1.61 seconds and said she is looking forward to making a trip to the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis this weekend.

Floyd Central piled up 519 points to win the sectional for the fourth straight year. Jeffersonville was second with 427, and the Owls were third among 13 schools with 330 points.

“Maren dropped her time 1.38 (seconds) today,” said a pleased coach Dave Boggs. “Her turns are looking real good, and I complimented her Thursday and even this morning at practice about her turns.

“I told (the 400 relay team) this morning that they could break the record today, and they looked at me like they didn’t know. We broke it by over two seconds. They had off-the-charts splits. All four were lifetime best splits. You can’t beat that at all.”

“It was my goal since the beginning of the season,” Cerino said. “When I got in the water, I didn’t think about (the record). I just concentrated on swimming fast, and it happened. I’m really happy.”

McClure said winning the butterfly at sectional to qualify for state was a goal.

“I’m very excited with the time I went today,” she said.

In practice this week, she said she will work on the little things, including stroke technique.

“I will definitely work on walls (turns) and underwater a little bit more, just improving,” she said.

Boggs senses McClure could get faster, possibly dipping under a minute.

“I still think she might be early on her taper,” he said. “I think another week of rest will do her wonders.”

In the relay, Jacobi said she wanted to get off to a good start as the lead swimmer.

“Obviously, I wanted to out-touch Floyd because they were our No. 1 competitor.” Jacobi said. “I was trying to improve my personal time, which I did. I went faster on the relay than I did on my individual race. I wanted a 56, but a 57.3 is good for me.

“It’s amazing (to get school record). I’m so ready to walk into the pool and see our names on that big white board. It’s so satisfying.”

McClure got a taste of team success as well as an individual triumph.

“I was very pleased with our performance today in the relay,” she said. “I’m really happy with all of our swims today. Going into this race, we had our eye on the record, and we broke it by about two seconds, so we’re really, really happy. I was really happy with my split. Everyone put up good splits today. It was my goal to go 56, and that’s what I did.”

Cox went faster than she thought she would.

“I jumped in with the goal to keep up at least with Floyd, and I wanted to go a 57, and I felt pretty good in the race,” she said. “I was surprised at how I kept up with the girls. I actually went 55, so I was really happy with that. It was just an all-around amazing swim. I couldn’t have asked to break the record with any other girls. These girls have pushed me since Day 1.”

Cerino set her sights on Floyd Central.

“I was trying to catch up with (Floyd Central’s anchor swimmer) and beat her,” Cerino said. “I didn’t do that, but I’m really proud of how I went. I went a 54, which is the fastest I have ever gone. I was real proud of that because it was my last race, so I knew I had to give it everything. It’s a nice way to close my swimming career.”

Trinity Walters is a junior who will graduate this spring, and she said it was her plan to get her diploma in three years.

“I swam in middle school, but then I came back,” she said.

She was on the Seymour team for three years.

“I loved swimming on this team,” she said. “Everybody is so encouraging and friendly. I feel like the coaches do a really good job at picking you up individually and tell you what you need to work on. The team is awesome. I love my teammates.”

Walters placed 11th in the 100 fly and 16th in the 200 free at sectional.

The team’s biggest win may have been just getting in the water without the COVID-19 pandemic interfering.

“I think we’re just glad to be here competing today,” Boggs said. “Back in October, we weren’t sure we would even get this far. I think there’s a lot of relief that we just got here today.”

Floyd Central Sectional

Teams: Floyd Central 519, Jeffersonville 427, Seymour 330, New Albany 121, Jennings County 171, Madison 127, Southwestern (Hanover) 108, Scottsburg 95, Switzerland County 66, Charlestown 65, Salem 49, Providence 44, Henryville 32

Overall firsts and Seymour individuals:

200-yard medley relay: Jeffersonville 1:51.75; 3-(Ekaterina Cox, Kirby Hill, Maren McClure, Sandy Cerino) 1:57.49

200 free: Katelyn Case (Jeff) 1:57.29; 7-Cox 2:07.15, 10-Amelita Vasquez 2:16.11, 16-Trinity Walters 2:29.08

200 individual medley: Kylie McDonald (FC) 2:13.77; 4-McClure 2:18.19, 9-Carmyn Wilson 2:31.69, 12-Avery Miller 2:45.55

50 free: Savanna Liddle (FC) 24.39; 3-Cerino 25.05, Samantha Jacobi 26.42

Diving: Lanie Scharlow (NA) 391.30; 6-Alexandra Weaver 280.50, 7-Grace Lewis 276.15, 8-Kate Connell 260.85

100 fly: McClure (S) 1:01.61; 11-Walters 1:13.64, 14-Hill 1:19.33

100 free: Liddle (FC) 54.14; 3-Cerino 55.02, 7-Jacobi 57.81, 10-Hunt 1:01.3

500 free: Case (Jeff) 5:15.02; 8-Vasquez 6:01.06, 13-Makenna Greenawalt 6:32.55.

200 free relay: Jeffersonville 1:40.31; 3-(Hunt, Wilson, Jacobi, Vasquez) 1:49.45

100 backstroke: Lucy Owens (FC) 1:00.00; 3-Cox 1:02.68, 10-Hunt 1:10.58

100 breaststroke: Morgan Schoen (FC) 1:09.03; 9-Wilson 1:17.33, 10-Hill 1:22.03, 16-Montana Crossman 1:27.22

400 free relay: FC 3:41.89; 2-(Jacobi, McClure, Cox, Cerino) 3:43.67