New Palestine High School

The New Palestine girls swimming and diving team had a strong night in Thursday's sectional preliminaries. The Dragons advanced six individuals and three relays to the finals in six events. The Dragons advanced 15 more times to the consolation finals. The Dragons advanced to the finals in all three relays. The 200 free relay was the best swim of the night, as Sullie Leavel, Rachel Hamilton, Lillie Abernathy and Chloe Siler finished second (1:45.15). Arianna Tull, Piper Schaefer, Hamilton and Emily Appleby were fourth in the 200 medley relay (2:07.66), while Leavell, Ireland Armstrong, Abernathy and Siler were fourth in the 400 free relay (3:57.70). The Dragons advanced all three swimmers to the finals in the 100 butterfly, with Abernathy placing fifth (1:04.04), Leavell sixth (1:04.74) and Siler eighth (1:06.53). Two Dragons advanced to the finals in the 50 free, where Siler was third (25.28) and Leavell fifth (25.38). Appleby was 16th and will swim in the consolation finals. In the 100 breaststroke, Abernathy clinched a spot in the finals with a fourth-place finish (1:10.28). Hanna Stone was ninth and will swim in the consolation finals. The Dragons also had swimmers advance to the consolation finals in five other events. In the 200 free, Armstrong was ninth and Ansley Tucker 15th. In the 200 IM, Hamilton was ninth, Emma Snyder 11th and Isabelle Singer 14th. In the 100 backstroke, Hamilton was 10th, Snyder 14th and Arianna Tull 15th. In the 500 free, Armstrong was 10th, Singer 14th and Tucker 15th. In the 100 free, Cadyn Brown was 15th and Stone 16th. Saturday's events begin with the diving preliminaries at 9 a.m. The swimming finals will commence at 1 p.m.