By Charlie Browning
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This year the Carmel girl’s swimming team hit the quarter century mark. They swam the fastest and dove the best of anyone in the pool for the 25^th straight year. And they made it look easy. With a total team score of 382 points, the team didn’t just win-they dominated. Homestead, who was the runner-up this year, finished with a total team score of 230. I never was much of a math genius, but even I know that there is quite a substantial difference between those two scores. The girls entered the state meet with a target on their back-the same one that has been there for the last 24 years-but they quickly proved that it didn’t matter. They won eight of 11 swimming events, including the last, when the meet was already all but over. In just another day in the pool, the team showed the rest of the state that they are a force to be reckoned with, and they don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.

An accomplishment such as this is absolutely incredible, and it is something that will be remembered forever here at CHS. Yet at the same time, there is still a sense around the school that winning 25 straight state championships is almost normal. Every year, the school and community expect the team to take home a state championship, and everyone would be in complete and utter shock if it they didn’t. And that mindset, which applies to almost every sport here at CHS, is what makes Carmel athletics so unbelievably impressive. With over 100 state championships to our name, almost every sports team begins their season with the mindset that anything less than a state championship-or at least a trip to the state finals-is a bust. The culture around Carmel athletics is one where success is expected, and even demanded.

Every culture needs to be established by some sort of precedent, and there is no getting around who is responsible for raising the bar when it comes to Carmel’s stellar athletic atmosphere and reputation: the girl’s swimming and diving team. One state championship is impressive. In fact, some schools would give an arm and a leg just to get a shot at the state finals. But to get 25 in a row? That truly is remarkable. This year’s victory ties them for the forth longest state championship streak ever in the history of the United States, and they are only five more years away from being alone at the top. Carmel at the top? I feel like I’ve heard that phrase a few times before. Seeing Carmel High School’s name at the forefront of that list would arguably be one of the greatest accomplishments for a school that has the ability to gloat a practically never-ending list of outstanding successes.

The swimming and diving team, a group that get nowhere near the publicity or attention of the football or basketball team, has found a way to become the identity of arguably the most successful athletic department in the state. When people think of Indiana, they think basketball and corn. When they think of Carmel, statues and roundabouts are most likely the first things that come to their mind. But when they think of Carmel High School athletics, girl’s swimming and diving undoubtedly headlines their thoughts. They were the ones who set the standard in an athletic department that knows nothing other than winning. Through these past 25 years of excellence, this team has been the one that has and continues to set the tone of what Carmel athletics are all about. There were certainly other programs and teams before them that won wearing a Carmel uniform, but this swimming and diving program has bumped the standard up to an entirely new level.

And the scariest thing for all of the other schools around the state, and for that matter around the country, is that this team and athletics department aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. If anything, they are moving forward at an even more rapid pace than before. And that’s the only way that we would have it here at Carmel. The state championship tally for this school is sky-rocketing at an unbelievable pace these days, and don’t expect that to change any time soon. Especially if the swimming and diving team has anything to say about it.