Oakland Is Crowned #HLSD Champions for the 10th Consecutive Year
Maddie McConnell
INDIANAPOLIS — The Oakland Golden Grizzlies were crowned the #HLSD Champions for the 10
th consecutive year. The women were in the driver’s seat for the entirety of the week, finishing with 983 points while the men’s crown came down to one final race. Winning by 11 over IUPUI, the men finished with 852 points.
It all came down to the 400 free relay on the men’s side. IUPUI and Oakland were separated by just five points heading into that final event. In the end, the Golden Grizzlies were victorious while setting a new championship record at 2:52.70. The Oakland women also won the relay with a time of 3:20.61.
Oakland swept the 200 back with the Men’s Swimmer of the Meet and the Co-Women’s Swimmer of the Meet. Susan LaGrand finished with a time of 1:54.74 and Marko Khotynetski touched the wall at 1:42.76.
The Golden Grizzlies would go on to sweep the 100 free as well. Jordyn Shipps finished at 49.85 for the women and Christian Bart collected hardware for the men with a time of 43.43.
The women’s 3-meter diving competition crowned Diver of the Meet Oakland’s Ellie Chalifoux with a score of 336. IUPUI’s Sadie Smith was the runner-up with a score of 269.40. Placing third with of score of 256.80 was Milwaukee’s Julie Rebek.
The final day began with the 66-lap 1650 freestyle race. The men’s race was decided by .14 with Gavin Webb of Youngstown State being victorious with a time of 15:19.52. Emmaleigh Zietlow of IUPUI defended her crown, as she touched the wall at 16:36.62.
Yet another championship record was broken on the men’s side in the 200 breast as Logan Kelly of IUPUI topped the previous record by nearly three seconds at 1:52.86. Milwaukee’s Makaila Scheiblein touched the wall at 2:14.56 on the women’s side.
The 200 fly saw IUPUI freshman and HL Freshman of the Year Gabby Puryear-Lynch touch the wall first at 2:02.29 and Youngstown State sophomore Aleksa Radenovic claim the victory with a time of 1:45.23.
2023 #HLSD Championships Specialty Awards
Women’s Freshman of the Year – Gabby Puryear-Lynch, IUPUI
Men’s Freshman of the Year – Sebastian Otero, IUPUI
Women’s Diver of the Meet – Elleanna Chalifoux, OAK
Men’s Diver of the Meet – Sebastian Otero, IUPUI
Co-Women’s Swimmers of the Meet – Emmaleigh Zietlow, IUPUI & Susan LaGrand, OAK
Men’s Swimmer of the Meet – Marko Khotynetski, OAK
Women’s Diving Coach of the Year – Larry Albright, OAK
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year – Eric Barnes, IUPUI
Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year – Pete Hovland, OAK
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year – Damion Dennis, IUPUI
TEAM SCORES
Women
1 – Oakland (983)
2 - IUPUI (636.5)
3 - Milwaukee (606.5)
4 – Youngstown State (431)
5 – Cleveland State (382)
6 – Green Bay (210)
Men
1 – Oakland (852)
2 – IUPUI (841)
3 – Cleveland State (504)
4 – Youngstown State (426)
5 – Milwaukee (342)
6 – Green Bay (310)