Freshman Phenom Raegan O’Donnell Shatters Mahomet-Seymour Swimming Records at State Championship
By Fred Kroner
Raegan O’Donnell used the IHSA girls’ swimming and diving championship in suburban Chicago to break another Mahomet-Seymour school record.
Ending a season where school marks fell in 11 of 12 events, the Bulldog freshman knocked 2.69 seconds off the school standard in the 500-yard freestyle on Friday (Nov. 15).
She placed 20th in the event with a clocking of 5 minutes, 6.47 seconds.
O’Donnell had M-S’ top placement at state overall, ending 17th in the 50-yard freestyle sprint.
Her time was 23.92 seconds, and was less than two-tenths of a second beyond the school-record time she achieved at sectionals.
M-S had state qualifiers in six events. Besides the one school record, Bulldog swimmers posted their second-best time of the year in each of the other five events.
Talynn O’Donnell took 30th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.69) and 32nd in the 100-yard freestyle (52.96 seconds).
Both M-S relays that competed at state wound up in 25th place.
The 200-yard freestyle relay foursome of Talynn O’Donnell, Lainey Howard, Caroline Mills and Raegan O’Donnell was timed in 1:37.68. Raegan O’Donnell had the fastest 50-yard split (23.75 seconds).
The 400-yard freestyle relay posted a time of 3:36.70. The swimmers were Talynn O’Donnell, Mills, Howard and Raegan O’Donnell. Again, Raegan O’Donnell had the quickest split (52.40 seconds).
The Bulldogs participated in 13 meets this season and broke school records in nine of them.
Entering the sectional, where M-S placed second, the Bulldogs had a cumulative record of 54-6 against all schools they faced.
