Freshman Raegan O’Donnell Sets Multiple Records in Mahomet-Seymour’s Dominant Swim Meet Victory
By FRED KRONER
In her first official high school meet, Mahomet-Seymour freshman Raegan O’Donnell set a pool record at Stanford Olympia while winning the 50-yard freestyle.
O’Donnell’s time (25.05 seconds) was more than a half-second better than the previous record (25.65), which had stood since 2018.
To cap off her day, O’Donnell also won the 500-yard freestyle (5:30.32) and anchored two winning relays, both of which also established new pool records.
The 200-yard freestyle relay foursome of Talynn O’Donnell, Lainey Howard, Karsyn Johnson and Raegan O’Donnell was timed in 1:44.52. The previous record at the Olympia pool (1:44.78) was set in 2022.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the M-S entry took down a pool record which had stood for 36 years.
Teaming up for the win were Talynn O’Donnell, Caroline Mills, Howard and Raegan O’Donnell.
Their combined time was 3:50.43. The previous standard was 3:51.37.
The Bulldogs produced wins in six other individual events, including two by Talynn O’Donnell, who was victorious in the 200-yard freestyle (2:01.28) and the 100-yard freestyle (55.67 seconds).
Also capturing top honors in two events were freshmen Johnson and Callie Lu.
Johnson was triumphant in the 200-yard individual medley (2:23.07) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:04.76).
Lu dominated in the 100-yard butterfly (1:08.77) as well as in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:13.68).
Mills secured two runner-up finishes, placing second in the 200-yard freestyle (2:06.31) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:56.02).
Howard took second in the 200-yard individual medley (2:28.03). Logsdon was the runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly (1:14.43).
The Bulldogs’ 200-yard medley relay unit also swam second. The swimmers were Johnson, Lu, Madelyn Logsdon and Romy Hernandez. Their collective time was 2:06.50.
Taking third in two events was Claire Waggoner. Her events were the 200-yard freestyle (2:20.74) and the 100-yard freestyle (1:05.38).
Other third-place finishes belonged to Hernandez (100 butterfly in 1:20.91), Kayleigh Holt (100 backstroke in 1:20.90) and Howard (100 breaststroke in 1:18.10).
Waggoner, Lydia Risser, Holt and Lu combined for a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (2:08.45).
M-S won the meet, 115-50.
Head coach Erich O’Donnell said, “This team is special and it will be exciting to see how the season continues to unfold. While they still have a lot of work to do, many improvements have already been made.”
The Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday (Sept. 10) at Centennial High School in a meet against Champaign Central and Danville.
