1998 IHSAA GIRLS SWIMMING

& DIVING STATE FINALS

February 14, 1998

Winning two individual titles and all three relays, Carmel won its 12^th consecutive state title Feb. 14 in the 24^th Annual Indiana High School Athletic Association Girls Swimming & Diving State Championships at the I.U. Natatorium in Indianapolis. 

Carmel won points in every event but diving on its way to a 419-point total, just off the record it set with 420.5 points in the 1997 state meet.  It was the 13^th girls swimming title overall for the Greyhounds and the school's 60^th IHSAA title in all sports.

Center Grove took second with 178 points, followed by North Central of Indianapolis with 153. All three of the top finishing schools belong to the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference. 

Michala Kwasny, a junior at Fort Wayne Snider, won two titles to run her career total to five. Kwasny won her third straight title in the 200 individual medley, and then came back to capture the 100 butterfly in a meet-record 55.40.  

Also posting a three-peat was senior Lindsay Carlberg of Carmel in the 100 backstroke. Her winning time of 56.43 was more than a half-second better than her 1997 effort. 

Katie Fields of Columbus North also was a two-event winner and broke her own state meet record in the 500 freestyle at 4:50.00. It was the third straight year the senior has won the event. Earlier in the meet, she won her second 200 freestyle championship. Fields was the 200 freestyle state champion in 1995-96 and finished second in 1996-97. 

Freshman Lacey Boutwell of Noblesville made her state meet debut in record-setting fashion. After going a record 23:03 in the Friday's preliminaries, she came back to clock a 22.90 and win the 50 freestyle championship. She added the 100 freestyle championship later, going 50.81. 

Katie Cooper, a junior from Franklin, won the school's sixth diving title and the first since 1985-86 with a winning total of 409.60.  

MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD -- Maureen Hillenmeyer of Westfield High School was named the 1998 recipient of the IHSAA Mental Attitude Award in Girls Swimming & Diving by the IHSAA Executive Committee. She is the first Westfield athlete in any sport to be honored with an IHSAA Mental Attitude Award. 

Hillenmeyer finished third in the 50 freestyle, fourth in the 100 freestyle and was part of Westfield's 200 freestyle relay team that took third. This was the fourth straight year she had competed in the state finals, and was her team's MVP for straight years. 

Hillenmeyer ranks third in her senior class of 114 students and is a National Merit Scholarship finalist. She is active in a number of extracurricular activities, including the National Honor Society that she serves as president. She also is on the school's student council and was a class officer as a junior. She serves as news editor of the school's newspaper and was the creator of the school's website. She intends to study pre-medicine at the University of Notre Dame. 

Farm Bureau Insurance, corporate partner of the IHSAA, awarded a $1,000 scholarship in Hillenmeyer's name to Westfield High School.