Indiana

Alex Shackell Swims 50.73 in 100 Fly Prelims at Indiana State Championship Meet

Published

10 months ago

February 15, 2025

Alex Shackell Swims 50.73 in 100 Fly Prelims at Indiana State Championship Meet

Indiana High School Girls’ State Swimming & Diving Championships

Carmel senior and U.S. Olympian Alex Shackell cruised to a top seed in her lone individual event on Friday and is swimming all three races as the Greyhounds chase their 39th consecutive Indiana high school state championship.

Shackell swam 50.73 in the 100 yard fly, which is about half-a-second off her state record of 50.25 from last season. That swim put her two-and-a-half ahead of Fishers sophomore Emily Wolf, the #2 seed.

Shackell is chasing a fourth-straight state championship in the 100 fly, though this is the first season in which she’s swimming only one individual event.

Year-by-Year Alex Shackell Individual State Results

Freshman
- 100 fly – 1st – 51.71
- 50 free – 2nd – 22.48
Sophomore
- 100 fly – 1st – 50.89
- 50 free – 1st – 21.93
Junior
- 100 fly – 1st – 50.25
- 100 back – 1st – 51.63

No girl in state history has ever four-peated in that event, though several have won three-peats. Besides Shackell, the most recent was Stanford associate head coach Katie Robinson, who did so for South Dearborn High from 2001-2003.

Shackell leads an otherwise-young Carmel core that is likely to continue this state title streak for years into the future. For example, she split 22.55 on the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay, where she was joined by freshman Ellie Clarke (back 25.57), junior Lucy Enoch (breast – 28.74), and sophomore Faith Gorey (22.98). Clarke had the #2 backstroke split, Enoch had the #3 breaststroke split, and Gorey had the #2 freestyle split of the entire field, along with Shackell’s easily-best-in-class butterfly split (that actually outpaced all of the freestylers).

That team went 1:39.84, three seconds ahead of any other medley relay, and still has some changes to make for finals – like adding Molly Sweeney to the breaststroke leg.

Carmel also led the 200 free relay in 1:32.19, which included the sophomore Gorey (23.28), freshman Alexandria Clark (23.80), junior Molly Sweeney (23.24), and Shackell’s 21.87 anchor.

Shackell was actually outsplit in that race by Wawasee senior Julie Mishler, who finished her team’s 200 free relay in 21.64.

Mishler took two top seeds of her own in prelims, breaking a State Record in the process. She was 21.74 in the 50 free, .02 seconds away from Lillian Christianson’s 21.72 done last season; and swam 47.88 in the 100 free to break Kristina Paegle’s 2022 State Record of 48.00.

Shackell’s prelims finished as part of a more-veteran 400 free relay that touched in 3:24.73, but that should be faster in finals. That group included senior Lynsey Bowen (51.68), senior Alexandra Ward (52.20), freshman Clark (51.92), and Shackell (48.93).

While Carmel did the work they needed to do in order to secure another title, a lot of their swimmers have plenty of room to drop in finals. Bowen took the top seed in the 200 free in 1:48.04, though a pair of 1:48-mids from Catie Brenneman and Liliana Ratzlaff make it a battle.

Bowen, interestingly, swam the 100 fly, qualifying for the B Final, as her other individual event, and not the 500 free where she’s the defending champion and State Record holder in a time of 4:40.74. Fishers’ Emily Wolf instead is the top qualifier in that race in 4:47.72 with a pair of Carmel swimmers close behind.

Junior Molly Sweeney, a Tennessee commit, is the top seed in the 200 IM in 1:59.71, seeking a third-straight title in that race. She still holds the state record in 1:55.88 from her freshman season and won again last year, albeit half-a-second slower.

She is also the defending champion in the 100 breaststroke, but cruised through prelims in 1:01.14 to take the 2nd seed behind Valparaiso’s Madeline Moreth (1:00.96). Moreth, a junior, is committed to Florida and has also been better than she was in heats.

The freshman Clarke, after her great medley relay leg, became the top qualifier in the 100 back in 54.42, a second ahead of Carroll sophomore Kate Fetters and 1.2 ahead of Munster freshman Lilly King.

Fun fact: if Carmel wins 8 titles in finals, that will give them 200 in state-meet history. No other school enters the session with more than 20.

Clarke was 53.6 in March of last spring, before she was eligible for high school competition.

Diving finals kick off Saturday at 9AM Eastern, while swimming finals kickoff at 1PM Eastern and will be live-recapped on SwimSwam.

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Indiana

Indiana ethics panel approves Jennifer-Ruth Green settlement; possible criminal charges pending

Published

12 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Indiana ethics panel approves Jennifer-Ruth Green settlement; possible criminal charges pending

The Indiana State Ethics Commission on Thursday approved a settlement requiring former Public Safety Secretary Jennifer-Ruth Green to pay a $10,000 civil fine, closing the ethics case against her — but potential criminal charges remain under review by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. The bipartisan, five-member commission voted unanimously to accept the agreement during its […]

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Bears consider move to Indiana with effort to secure public funding for stadium in Illinois stalled

Published

24 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Bears consider move to Indiana with effort to secure public funding for stadium in Illinois stalled

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears say they’re mulling a move to Northwest Indiana with their efforts to secure public funding they say they need to build an enclosed stadium in Illinois stalled.

Team president Kevin Warren insisted Wednesday in an open letter to fans that the team still prefers to build a new home on a tract of land it owns in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois. He also said the Bears are not using the threat to cross state lines as leverage.

“This is not about leverage,” Warren said. “We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights. Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day.”

Warren did not say where in Northwest Indiana the Bears would look to move.

The letter comes just days before Chicago hosts rival Green Bay in a game with heavy playoff implications. The Bears (10-4) hold a slim lead over the Packers (9-4-1) in the NFC North. In their first season under coach Ben Johnson, they are trying to secure their first postseason appearance since 2020.

“The Bears have called Chicago home for more than a century,” Warren said. “One certainty is that our commitment to this city will not change. We will continue to provide unwavering support to the community. We need to secure a world-class venue for our passionate fanbase and honor the energy you bring every week.”

The Bears’ focus for a new home has fluctuated between a tract of land they own in Arlington Heights to the Chicago lakefront, and then back to the suburb. They have said they plan to pay for the stadium construction on the site of a former racetrack about 30 miles northwest of their longtime home at Soldier Field, though they would need assistance to complete the project.

According to a team consultant report released in September, they are seeking $855 million in public funding for infrastructure in order to build a stadium in Arlington Heights that could host Final Fours and Super Bowls. The Bears were also hoping the Illinois legislature would pass a bill in October that would freeze property taxes for large-scale construction projects such as the stadium, allowing them to begin construction this year. But that didn’t happen.

“For a project of this scale, uncertainty has significant consequences,” Warren said. “Stable timelines are critical, as are predictable processes and elected leaders, who share a sense of urgency and appreciation for public partnership that projects with this level of impact require. We have not received that sense of urgency or appreciation to date. We have been told directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026, despite the benefits it will bring to Illinois.”

In September 2022, the Bears unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that also called for restaurants, retail and more, when they were finalizing the purchase of that site 30 miles from Soldier Field. Their focus moved toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as president two years ago to replace the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson but a tepid reception from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

Last spring, the team announced it was turning its attention back to Arlington Heights, citing “significant progress” with local leaders.

Since moving to Chicago in 1921, the Bears have never owned their stadium, whether playing at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970 or Soldier Field since then.

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Slim chances for a white Christmas in Lafayette area and in Indiana

Published

2 days ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Slim chances for a white Christmas in Lafayette area and in Indiana

Indiana is unlikely to have a white Christmas because of forecasted warmer-than-normal temperatures.
Temperatures on Christmas Day are expected to be in the 40s or 50s, possibly reaching the 60s.
The normal high temperature for the Lafayette area this time of year is 36 degrees.

LAFAYETTE, IN — Hopes for a white Christmas are fading quickly in Indiana.

“I know earlier in the month we were thinking we might have a higher chance of a white Christmas,” National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Moore said, “but unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. A lot of long-range guidance has been consistent showing a pattern on Christmas Day featuring much warmer than normal temperatures for the region and the chance for some rainfall.

“It does look like we’ll be above average, temperatures at least in the 40s, maybe 50s,” Moore said on Wednesday, just three days after subzero temperatures pummeled the area.

With still eight days until Christmas, the forecasts closer to Dec. 25 might bump the expected high temps up even into the 60s, Moore said.

Normal temperatures this time of year for Lafayette are 36 for a high and 22 for a low.

“It looks like you might be able to keep your heavy winter jackets in the closet for now,” Moore said.

How will a Christmas with temperatures in the 40s, 50s or even 60s compare to Christmases past?

In 1982, Lafayette’s record-warm Christmas was 64 degrees. Its record cold temperature was 12 below zero in 2000.

So now that the dreams of a white Christmas appear dashed, what about January or February?

The Climate Prediction Center published a three-month forecast in November, and an update is expected in the next couple of days.

But last month, center’s forecast for January, February and March was for Hoosiers to have an equal chance of above and/or below average temperatures.

“We’ll see how that translates with the storm track,” Moore said.

The Climate Prediction Center forecasts warmer than normal temperatures in the southern United States and below normal temperatures in the Northern Plains.

“That puts the storm track right through Indiana, which makes sense because the Climate Prediction Center has Indiana as a bullseye for a pattern favoring above-normal precipitation,” Moore said. Temperatures will decide whether that precipitation falls as rain or snow — or ice or freezing rain.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

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