Columbus East High School

During Thursday's preliminary rounds of the girls' swimming sectional at Columbus North, Columbus East's athletes delivered noteworthy performances. In the 500-yard freestyle, Connelly Furnish secured the second-best qualifying time, clocking in at 5 minutes, 28.47 seconds, trailing only Bloomington South's Harper Eakin by just under 13 seconds. Additionally, Furnish achieved the third-fastest time in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing in 2 minutes, 20.18 seconds. Cassidy Furnish also showcased her skills, advancing to the championship finals in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. She qualified eighth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2 minutes, 12.48 seconds, and matched this placement in the 500 freestyle, completing the race in 5 minutes, 53.09 seconds. The Olympians' 400-yard freestyle relay team earned a spot in the championship finals by securing the seventh-fastest qualifying time, finishing in 4 minutes, 24.94 seconds. To advance to the IHSAA state finals, swimmers must meet specific criteria. Automatic qualification is granted to sectional event winners and those who achieve or surpass the state time standard during the sectional finals. If these criteria do not fill all available slots, the fastest remaining times statewide are selected until each event comprises 32 participants - per IHSAA rules. The sectional diving preliminaries are scheduled to commence at 9 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the swimming finals at 1 p.m. The diving finals will occur during a break in the swimming events. The top four divers from the sectional will progress to the Jasper Diving Regional on Tuesday. The prelim results for all teams are attached with this article.