CHESTERTON | Longtime Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel stood soaking wet next to his familiar spot on the pool deck by the starting blocks.
He had just finished taking the obligatory dip into the pool off the diving board after his charges won their 14th consecutive Duneland Athletic Conference meet on Saturday.
“It’s become a tradition,” said Kinel of the dip with his swimmers.
He was able to direct the continued dominance of his host Trojans, who finished with 493 points to runner-up Lake Central’s 409.
Crown Point was third at 398.
“It’s fun and, and we try to keep things going,” Kinel said.
“We do it every year,” added senior Julia Campbell, who helped pace the Trojans to the title. “Our guys and our girls do it.”
The meet’s only suspense was who would finish second -- Lake Central or Crown Point.
Times No. 1 Chesterton displayed its remarkable team depth, placing three swimmers in the top eight of each event to pile up the points.
“Coming in here we knew Crown Point was going to win a lot of events, so we had to rely on our depth,” Kinel said. “And we knew Lake Central has quality and depth. Both of those teams are tremendous programs and are well coached.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy by any means. The girls really rose to the occasion.”
Campbell won the 500 free and took second in the 200 free, while freshman Vanessa Krause won the 50 free and placed second in the 100 fly. Kate Curley placed second in the 200 IM and 100 back.
“It’s our depth that make us win mostly because Crown Point has a lot of top people,” said Campbell, who finished seventh in the state in the 500 free a year ago. “We had a lot second, third and fifths, and all those in the points add up.”
Crown Point’s Aly Tetzloff won the 200 free and broke her own record in winning the 100 fly in 55.69, while Holly Schuster won the 200IM, 100 fly and 100 back.
But it wasn’t enough to offset the Chesterton wave of swimmers.
“You learn things about the kids in the championship meets, about how they’re going to come through under real pressure,” said Kinel, who gives much of the credit to his coaching staff.
“I think we learned a lot about our team today.”
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