Chesterton seniors lead Trojans to fourth-place finish at state

Kincaid already owned a second-place medal in the 100 backstroke, fifth in the 100 butterfly and third from the 200 freestyle relay but the result in the final race of the day pushed him over the edge. The third in the 400 freestyle relay — along with Fort Wayne Carroll finishing sixth — pushed Chesterton to 148 points and a fourth-place team finish, just one point clear of Carroll in fifth.

“We did what we needed to do,” Kincaid said. “We really banded together as a team.”

Said Chesterton coach Mat Pavlovich: “Great ending … I feel like we kind of maxed out what we could do this year.”

Kincaid, an Indiana signee, and fellow senior Gabe Eschbach, who intends to swim at Purdue, did the heavy lifting for the Trojans en route to the team’s highest finish since taking third in 2019-20. Eschbach took fourth in the 500 freestyle and sixth in the 200 freestyle in addition to swimming with Kincaid on the 400 freestyle relay team that capped the meet.

“We’re proud of the team this year and how well we did,” Eschbach said. “There’s so much support within our team. I’m really proud of all our boys.”

Kincaid’s 48.79 in the 100 backstroke was only outdone by defending state champion Will Modglin, a junior from Zionsville who Pavlovich calls a “monster” who swam the fifth fastest high school time recorded at 46.16. Paired with his 49.10 run to fifth in the 100 butterfly, Kincaid was the top overall Region performer.

“It was a lot of hard work that we put into this season,” Kincaid said. “To see it pay off was nice.”

Eschbach’s 1:40.43 in the 200 freestyle was good enough for sixth but he came into his own late in the 500 freestyle. He kicked in the closing stages of the race to secure fourth place in 3:31.59, less than one second quicker than Munster senior Griffin Poulsen in seventh.

“I didn’t know what it was but it just clicked for me,” Eschbach said. “Like, I’ve got to start sprinting now.”

Juniors Scottie Pejic and Aidan Tharp joined Eschbach and Kincaid on the third-place 400 freestyle relay. Junior Gavin Nagdeman teamed with Kincaid, Pejic and Tharp to swim the 200 medley relay in 1:32.94 and a third place finish to start the day.

“There were a lot of great times,” Pavlovich said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”

Lake Central senior diver Zach Ramacci climbed as high as second place after nine rounds but settled into a career-best fourth-place finish with 460.60 points in the diving final. Hobart senior Ethan Ferba finished ninth, just 8.55 points shy of a medal.

Ramacci said he outperformed his own expectations having scored the fifth-most points in the state while winning his regional earlier in the week. Getting as high as second before falling slightly down the leaderboard late led to him second guessing whether he should have backloaded more difficult dives late to make up ground.

But at the end of the meet Ramacci said he leaves pleased with how he ended his time with the Indian which included breaking the Lake Central pool record twice, four sectional wins and two regional titles.

“I’m definitely very proud,” Ramacci said. “I’m going to look back at this in 20 years and be like, ‘wow.’ Plus, I’m a competitive trampolinist and have been balancing two sports the last four months. It’s definitely been a tough ride at times but one I’m never going to forget.”

Poulsen swam the 500 freestyle in 4:32.56 to take seventh for a second consecutive season. That time was just .24 seconds slower than his time in Friday night’s preliminary that broke the Seahorse school record previously owned by Dustin Thompson.

Breaking the record in the state finals was a season-long goal for Poulsen, who trained the last two years with Dillon Thompson, Dustin’s brother.

“To me, it’s something that’s come full circle,” Poulsen said. “I got there in prelims and was able to get there again in finals. That just proves to me I did have it in me to get there in the end.”