Girls swimming: Kabacinski ends Chesterton career with two titles
By Andy Proffet Post-Tribune correspondent February 11, 2012 11:40PM
Olivia Kabacinski, senior at Chesterton High School, reacts after winning the 100 yard freestyle on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, at the IHSAA Girls State Swimming & Diving Championships at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind. (Jennifer Cecil / For The Post-Tribune)
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Updated: March 13, 2012 10:40AM
INDIANAPOLIS — Olivia Kabacinski found an extra gear.
The Chesterton senior capped her high school career with two state titles on Saturday at the IHSAA Girls Swimming State Finals, adding the 50 free and 100 free titles to the 200 free crown she won as a sophomore.
Kabacinski shared the best 50 time in Friday night’s preliminaries, but she found more speed on Saturday. She improved her time by .26 of a second to win in 23.06 seconds, outracing Mount Vernon’s Clara Baggett (23.26 seconds).
“One thing my coach and I really wanted to make sure of were my starts and my turns,” Kabacinski said. “Improving both those obviously helped me win both my events.”
Kabacinski entered the 100 free championship race with a sizable advantage based on her time in the prelims — 50.16 seconds to 50.83 seconds for defending state champion and second seeded Zoe Mattingly of Zionsville.
Mattingly finished in 50.27 seconds on Saturday, but Kabacinski was better, racing to the finish in 49.94 seconds.
“After the first (win), I definitely felt a little bit of relief,” Kabacinski said. “I’ve got my groove going and I can do this.
“I just tried to stay positive and not get too caught up in the first race. It worked.”
Kabacinski was Northwest Indiana’s only state champion on Saturday, and she was also the only swimmer to win two individual titles on the day.
“Being a senior and going out with a bang the way I wanted to, it feels really amazing,” said Kabacinski. “I don’t want to say (this) feels better than my title my sophomore year, but it’s definitely more meaningful because of the hard work I put in this year.”
Carmel, to no one’s surprise, won the team title for the 26th consecutive year, tied for the third-longest streak of state titles in national history.
Carmel’s 329 points were its fewest in the state finals since 2006, but the Greyhounds still won by 151 points over second-place Zionsville.
Ten teams scored 100 or more points, including fifth-place Chesterton (133) and ninth-place Munster (110).
“The two measuring sticks are top-10 and top-5,” said Munster coach Matt Pavlovich, who was pleased with his team’s finish. “There were so many teams this year, other than Carmel, that were fighting from 15th all the way to second.”
Munster had the area’s next best finish, taking second place in the opening 200 medley relay with the team of Brittany Gilbert, Emily Wimmer, Nicole Smith and Mary Beth Blocher.
Crown Point and Chesterton finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 medley relay after Zionsville and Mount Vernon were disqualified.
Other area top-five finishers were Munster’s Gilbert, third in the 100 fly and fourth in the 100 back; Crown Point, fifth in the 200 free relay; and Chesterton, third in the 400 medley relay.
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