CROWN POINT | The Big Three of Lake County high school swimming dominated at the Crown Point sectional prelims Friday night.
Times No. 2 Munster won six events, while No. 3 Crown Point took first in four. No. 4 Lake Central finished with one first-place and four second-place finishes.
In addition, the Seahorses and the Indians will have at least one swimmer in the top round in each of the 12 events for tomorrow's finals. The Bulldogs qualified for the finals in 11 of 12 events.
The diving finals are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today and the swimming finals will start at 1 p.m.
Tracy Muszalski secured a pair of second-place finishes for Lake Central in the 200 individual medley (2:14.16) and the 500 free (5:22.88).
"I felt I did pretty well (Friday)," Muszalski said. "I am hoping to drop some time (today), especially off of my IM time. I am closer to the state cut on that one."
Bulldog Hannah Raspopovich set a pool and sectional record when she won the 50 free with a time of 24.06. The old record had been set in 2008 by her sister Molly.
Crown Point freshman Holly Schuster brought the Bulldogs their first win of the prelims when she won the 200 IM with a time of 2:12.42 in her inaugural sectional event.
"I was very nervous up on the blocks," Schuster said. "I was afraid I would false start. Once I got into the water I was OK."
Schuster recorded her second-best time of the season in the 200 IM. Later, she won the 500 free with a time of 5:20.85.
Seahorses junior Jillian Homans won the 200 free for the second-consecutive year with a time of 1:54.54.
"That time is my best of the year so far," Homans said. "It's also a full two seconds less than what I swam here last year, so I'm pretty pumped."
Homans liked the back-to-back format that the blizzard snow storm provided when the prelims were pushed back from Thursday to Friday.
"It's what we do (back-to-back) at state, so it's good to get into that mindset," she said. "I'll just go home and go to bed early, and I'll be fine for the finals tomorrow."
The Seahorses started the prelims with a victory in the 200 medley relay by the team of Brittany Gilbert, Emily Wimmer, Ashley Hwang, and Elaine Pitsas (1:48.94). Crown Point and Lake Central, which finished second and third respectively, also had times under the state cut of 1:51.74.
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