Crown Point finishes sixth overall with just five swimmers in the finals

INDIANAPOLIS | Bryon Angerman had a hunch that he could work some magic if his Crown Point swimmers were willing to sacrifice for each other.

Angerman asked five of his swimmers to put aside individual glory and form the strongest relay teams possible. Heads turned and questions came, but the swimmers agreed and the Bulldogs benefitted.

Crown Point medaled in all three relays at the IHSAA Girls State Swimming Finals on Saturday, capping off the day with a second-place finish in the 400 relay that pushed the Bulldogs to a sixth-place finish in the team standings.

“We brought all underclassmen here today, five of them, and we took sixth place,” Angerman said. “That’s unbelievable. It was a gutsy move and it worked.”

Aly Tetzloff swam in all three relays as well as the 100 fly. The sophomore agreed to go along with Angerman’s plan with little hesitation. Tetzloff swam the opening leg of the 200 medley relay and then was the second swimmer into the pool on the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays. Teztloff swam a blistering 50.70 during the 400 relay which helped the Bulldogs pass Chesterton for second place. The sophomore also added a third-place finish in the 100 fly, finishing behind two Carmel swimmers at 54.71.

“It was a bit different to go from two events and two relays to three relays and just one individual event,” Tetzloff said. “The results turned out great. There were three of us that swam all three relays. It was a big risk and it paid off.”

Racheal Bukowksi was one of the three Crown Point swimmers to participate in each of the relays and the junior added a seventh-place finish in the 50 freestyle (24.08) as well. Holly Schuster was the third member of the team to race in every relay. The junior also placed 13th in the 200 IM.

“When you finish a relay runner-up to Carmel, that’s almost like winning a state title right there,” Angerman said. “We bypassed some individual glory today for that of the team and we succeeded. This is a great lesson for our team.”

Munster’s Mary Beth Blocher (50 freestyle) and Nikki Smith (100 fly) had a pair of fifth-place finishes to pace the Seahorses to an eighth-place team finish. Munster took sixth in the 200 relay and eighth in the 400 relay as well.

“The first half of the meet was really strong for us,” Blocher said. “As the meet continued, we just were getting tired. This is a really long weekend down here.”