The women’s swim team won the Sectional title on Feb. 7 with 577 points, 205 points ahead of runner-up Westfield. Photo from @SwimDiveCHS on Twitter

After sweeping every individual event and winning every relay at the Sectional, the women’s swim team will compete at the State final at IUPUI. The preliminary round will occur on Feb. 11 and the finals will occur on Feb. 12.

MacKenna Leiske, member of the women’s swim team and senior, is the defending state champion for the 200-meter breaststroke, an event that is supposed to be very competitive this year.

“Breastroke should be a good race this year, but I don’t want to speculate too early because I feel setting expectations is never beneficial,” she said.

Chris Plumb, head coach of the women’s swim team, said he agreed.

“The advice to all of our athletes is to believe in your process–take care of things you have control over, have a great attitude, and be a great teammate,” he said. “It does not matter if you are in contention to win an individual title or not–compete with confidence in your plan.”

As a senior, this will be Leiske’s last meet representing Carmel High School.

“Being a part of this legacy and so many historic teams is truly an honor, but I always have to remember that nothing is handed to us just because we are Carmel,” she said. “We have to continue to build on the teams that came before us and never take it for granted.”

Plumb said he agreed.

He said, “(I’m most looking forward to) watching the team come together for a purpose greater than themselves.