Record-Breaking Day for Mahomet-Seymour Girls’ Swim Team at Urbana Sectional: Six State Qualifiers and Seven School Records Shattered
By FRED KRONER
Mahomet-Seymour’s girls’ swimming team enjoyed a record-setting day on Saturday (Nov. 9) in the 10-team Urbana Sectional Meet.
The Bulldogs qualified entries for state in six events.
M-S broke seven school records.
Ten other Bulldogs who did not advance to state established new personal-best times.
And M-S shattered three pool records at Urbana.
Talynn O’Donnell and Raegan O’Donnell both qualified for state in two individual events as well as with two relay units.
In all six instances, they advanced by winning their races at the sectional.
Talynn O’Donnell swam to victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.56), breaking a school mark she set in 2022 and a pool mark established in 2015. She lowered her previous best time by 3.64 seconds and is seeded 18th for the state meet
In the 100-yard freestyle, Talynn O’Donell reduced her own school-record time from earlier this season by 1.82 seconds to 51.65 seconds. The former school mark was 53.47 seconds. She is also seeded 18th at state in that event.
Raegan O’Donnell outsprinted everyone in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.75 seconds. The former school record, which she set earlier in the season, was 24.19. She is seeded 14th at state.
Raegan O’Donnell also moved on in the longest race, the 500-yard freestyle.
Her time was 5:09.16 and has her seeded 29th at state. The former M-S school record of 5:16.40 had been held by Talynn O’Donnell since 2022.
The foursome of Talynn O’Donnell, Lainey Howard, Caroline Mills and Raegan O’Donnell combined for a time of 1:37.11 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The previous school record was 1:40.95 and the former pool record – set in 2012 – was 1:40.31. The relay is seeded 17th at state.
The same four relay swimmers teamed up for a school-record time of 3:34.17 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, reducing a mark (3:43.93) set earlier in the season. The former pool record at Urbana (3:39.24) was posted in 2016.
The other school mark was set by non-state-qualifier Callie Lu, who was the sectional runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.87. The former record was set by Lainey Howard (1:12.45) in 2023.
Ironically, Howard competed in the same sectional race as Lu on Saturday, finishing fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time (1:11.05) that was faster than her previous school record.
Six other Bulldogs recorded PR times, including Mills, Kayleigh Holt, and Claire Waggoner in two events apiece.
Mills was third in the 200-yard freestyle, dropping 4.13 seconds to 1:57.37. She was also the runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle (5:20.37), which was 8.34 seconds better than her PR.
Holt was 14th in the 100-yard butterfly (1:14.60), dropping her best by 2.56 seconds, and she was also 14th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:12.33), an improvement of 1.11 seconds.
Waggoner lowered her all-time best in the 100-yard freestyle by 3.97 seconds to 57.85 seconds and ended in ninth place. In the 100-yard backstroke, her time of 1:12.25 was a PR by 5.92 seconds. She placed 13th.
Maddie Logsdon swam her best in the 200-yard individual medley by .37 seconds. Her time of 2:27.99 placed her 11th.
Howard posted a PR in the 50-yard freestyle by .80, placing third in 24.69 seconds.
Lu’s time in the 200-yard individual medley (2:24.77) was more than one second faster than her previous best. She ended in ninth place.
Logsdon also added a season-best time in the 100-yard butterfly by more than three seconds (1:06.38). She was seventh overall.
Also finishing strong was the 200-yard medley relay unit of Holt, Lu, Logsdon and Waggoner. Their fourth-place time was 1:59.91.
In the team chase, Champaign Central won the sectional title with 268 points. M-S (244 points) took second and Centennial (231 points) ended in third place.
M-S was also the team sectional runner-up in 2023.
Junior Talynn O’Donnell has qualified for state three consecutive years. The 100-yard freestyle will be the fifth different event she has swum at state.
As a freshman, she went in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. As a sophomore, she advanced in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly.
Mills, a sophomore, is the only other Bulldog with previous experience at the IHSA state finals. She qualified in the 500-yard freestyle in 2023.
This year marks the first time an M-S relay has advanced to state.
Erich O’Donnell is the Bulldogs’ head coach.
