Carmel swimmers set national record

Carmel swimmers have achieved so much that often they are merely repeating something they have already done.

That was not so at Greensboro, N.C., in last week’s USA Swimming winter junior nationals. Carmel Swim Club twice broke the national record for girls 15-18 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

What made the record-breaking especially notable is that the previous mark was set days earlier in the senior nationals by a Nations Capital Swim Club team featuring Katie Ledecky, an Olympic gold medalist. Ledecky, 16, the 2013 world Swimmer of the Year, set world records in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles.

CSC’s Rachel Hayden, 18, Amy Bilquist, 16, Claire Adams, 15, and Veronica Burchill, 16, clocked a time of 1 minute, 30.13 seconds after a prelim of 1:30.49. (Previous record was 1:31.09). Their respective split times were 22.82, 22.07, 22.87 and 22.37.

It was “a ridiculously impressive time” for a group so young, the Swimming World website reported. Carmel won by more than a second, “which is nearly unheard of,” according to coach Chris Plumb.

The time would have placed Carmel 12th at this year’s NCAA Championships.

“We knew we could do well, but we didn’t expect that,” said Plumb, who coaches the club team and Carmel High School.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association allows swimmers to compete in up to two meets outside the regular season. Hayden represents North Central, and the three others are on the Carmel High team seeking to extend its streak to 28 successive state titles.

“To be able to set the national record, that was extremely gratifying and exciting,” Plumb said. “But at the same time, we want to do bigger and better things down the road.”

The four girls who set the record in the 200 free relay were second in the 400 free relay at junior nationals in 3:18.23.

Bilquist, a junior, is a transfer from Buckeye, Ariz. She was second in the 50 freestyle in 22.51 — under the IHSAA record of 22.90 set by Noblesville’s Lacey Boutwell in 1998.

Adams, a sophomore who won two titles at February’s state meet, was second in the 200 freestyle, fifth in the 100 backstroke and third in the 200 back. Her 200 free time of 1:45.55 was well under the IHSAA record of 1:47.09.

Boudia springs ahead

David Boudia doesn’t want to get bored, so he’s trying a new board.

Not new, really. The 10-meter platform Olympic champion won three NCAA titles on 3-meter springboard while at Purdue.

The Noblesville diver has chosen to concentrate on springboard during this week’s winter nationals at Austin, Texas. Preliminaries and semifinals are Wednesday, and the final Saturday.

He is training anew heading into the 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro.

“I’m working on a couple new dives on platform, and I didn’t want to push it going into competition,” Boudia told USA Diving. “I’m doing some bigger and harder dives to hopefully not contend for second place, but to contend for the top.”

Also among those at nationals will be Carmel’s Purdue-bound Steele Johnson, 17, a two-time national champion on platform, and Purdue’s Casey Matthews, the defending NCAA women’s champion on 3-meter.

Sports of all sorts

Soccer: Indiana University’s Jacob Bushue, A.J. Corrado (Zionsville), Nikita Kotlov (North Central) and Harrison Petts (Zionsville) are among 50 college seniors invited to the Major League Soccer combine Jan. 10-14 at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The MLS draft is Jan. 16.

Swimming: IU senior Lindsay Vrooman had a time of 15:54.68 in finishing second to Ledecky in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the winter nationals. Ledecky’s time of 15:15.17 broke Katie Hoff’s American record by nine seconds.

Track and field: Butler junior Mara Olson set a school record of 9:11.85, fastest in the NCAA this indoor season, in winning the women’s 3,000 meters Friday night at IU’s Hoosier Open. That came three weeks after she was 26th in NCAA cross-country to earn All-America honors and help the Bulldogs finish third. Indiana State sophomore John Mascari set a school record of 14:09.82 in finishing fourth in the men’s 5,000, and he ranks No. 3 in the NCAA. ... Other NCAA leaders include ISU’s Greggmar Swift (7.74) in the men’s 60-meter hurdles and Purdue’s Enekwechi Chukwuebuka (72-9¾) in the men’s weight throw and Dani Bunch (71-3¼) in the women’s weight.

Call Star reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195 or e-mail david.woods@indystar.com.