FISHERS — Pendleton Heights will be represented by a lone participant at the upcoming IHSAA Boys Swimming state Finals.
A big day at the Hamilton Southeastern Sectional, got even better for Arabians junior Jacob Simpson on Sunday morning after he qualified in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly based on time.
The 20 sectional winners, and anybody who meets the automatic state cut get bids to the state finals. The remaining spots are filled by the next best times in the state.
With Simpson less than a second off of the automatic cut in both events, his times earned him a spot at the IU Natatorium on Friday night.
In the 100 backstroke, Simpson set a new school record with a time of 52.57, finishing runner-up to Yorktown’s Gannon Crosser (50.77). In the 100-butterfly, he finished in third-place with a time of 51.72.
As a team, Pendleton Heights finished fourth out of 13 schools.
Fishers took first with a score of 528, and were followed by Hamilton Southeastern 466.5, Yorktown 301.5, Pendleton Heights 205, Oak Hill 204, Hamilton Heights 199, Anderson 120, Elwood Community 67, Marion 61, Lapel 3, and Frankton 1.
It took until the last event for the Arabians to secure fourth place.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the team of Elijah Brindley, Evan McKinney, Ian Christian and Simpson outpaced the Oak Hill team by nearly seven seconds to overtake them in the standings.
The 32 points won in the event, to Oak Hill’s 30 moved the Arabians one point ahead in the final team standings.
Rounding out the individual scorers for Pendleton Heights’ were Brindley with ninth in the 200 individual medley (2:10.34) and ninth in the 100 butterfly (57.69), McKinney ninth in the 500 free (5:18.77), Parker Christenson 13th in the 100 backstroke (1:04.79) and 15th in the 50 free (24:53) and Kemper 15th in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.00).
After the 400 free relays third-place finish, the Arabians’ other two relays placed fifth and seventh. The 200 medley team swam a 1:45.48 for fifth, and the 200 free team’s time of 1:43.24 got seventh.
Lapel had one swimmer advance to Saturday’s consolations. Nolan Donovan swam a 24.15 for 14th in the 50 free.
The preliminary round of the IHSAA State Finals will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. The top 16 competitors will advance to the following day, with the top eight competing in the championship finals beginning at 1 p.m.