When you reach a lifetime dream, sometimes it doesn’t live up to the hype.

That didn’t appear to be a problem for Chesterton sophomore Olivia Kabacinski as she grinned from ear-to-ear in celebrating a State Championship in the 200 Free Saturday at the 36th Annual IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” Kabcinski said from the pool deck shortly after winning. “I’ve had that goal for so long. It feels so good to have accomplished it.”

Kabacinski, the No. 1 seed after Friday’s prelims, went out fast and took early control.

“Before I started, I knew everyone would be coming after me,” Kabcinski said. “I knew I had to get out as fast as I could and that’s what I did.”

From lane 4, Kabacinsk could see Carmel’s Rhiannon Sheets the entire race. Sheets, who finished second, was the focal point of Kabacinski’s strategy.

“I knew she was there and I knew before the race started she would be there,” Kabacinski said. “She was my main focus. I tried to make sure I was with her or just ahead of her.”

Sheets even took a brief lead late in the race, but Kabacinski was there to answer with a charge.

“You can tell when someone is just inches ahead of you, so you just have to bury your head and dig down deep,” Kabacinski said. “That’s where swimming from the heart comes in. All those hours in the pool have to make it worth while.”

“I’m so happy for her,” Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel said. “She swam her butt off against a tremendous group of people. I’m very proud of her and happy for her.”

As a team, the Trojans finished fourth overall for the second consecutive year, but were just one point out of third.

“We were great,” Kinel said. “There were a lot of teams vying for the 2 through 8 spots. We bumped up in a lot of areas. The kids did everything they could do today.”

Carmel won its 24th straight Team State Championship, while Center Grove was second and Munster finished third.

“I thought Center Grove and Munster had too many finalists, but we kept chipping away and had a real chance at second here at the end,” Kinel said.

The other standout individual performance for the Trojans came from senior Brittany Fozkos as she finished third in the 50 Free and the 100 Back.

“The 50 Free was good,” Fozkos said. “It was really close to my best time. I got beat by two of the best girls in the nation. The backstroke was my best time ever. I’m really excited about that.”

“Brittany was awesome today,” Kinel said. “Her backstroke is getting into Jenni Anderson territory. I’m really happy for her. She had a really tough junior year, so for her to go out like this as a senior is really awesome.”

The Trojans also finished on the awards podium in all three relays. The 200 Medley Relay quartet of Fozkos, Kabacinski, Meaghan McLaughlin and Shauna Foor finished fourth overall.

In the 200 Free Relay, Fozkos, Foor, Milana Socha and Julia Campbell finished fifth. In the 400 Free Relay, Socha, Campbell, Maddie Miller and Kabacinski were sixth overall.

1. Carmel, 419; 2. Center Grove, 186.5; 3. Munster, 166; 4. Chesterton, 165; 5. Hamilton Southeaster, 163; 6. Zionsville, 136; 7. Homestead, 112; 8. Noblesville, 88; 9. Indianapolis North Central, 87; 10. Columbus North, 86; 17. Crown Point, 31; 20. Portage, 26; 29. Lowell, 15; 39. Lake Central 4.

200 Medley Relay -- 1. Carmel, 1:41.96; 2. Munster, 1:45.49; 3. Center Grove, 1:45.72; 4. Chesterton (Brittany Fozkos, Olivia Kabacinski, Meaghan McLaughlin, Shauna Foor), 1:46.47; 5. Homestead, 1:46.67; 6. Columbus North, 1:48.22; 7. Fishers, 1:48.62; 8. Lawrence North, DQ.

200 Free -- 1. Olivia Kabacinski (Chesterton), 1:49.07; 2. Rhiannon Sheets (Carmel), 1:49.31; 3. Margaret Ramsey (Carmel), 1:50.40; 4. Zoe Mattingly (Zionsville), 1:50.48; 5. Lauren Jordan (Carmel), 1:51.16; 6. Megan Gallagher (McCutcheon), 1:52.88; 7. Emily Wisolek (Northridge), 1:52.95; 8. Alex Brennan (Zionsville), 1:53.57; 12. Julia Campbell (Chesterton), 1:54.15.

200 IM -- 1. Trish Regan (Carmel), 2:00.09; 2. Amy Katz (Indpls. North Central), 2:03.71; 3. Amalia Kobelja (FW Snider), 2:04.51; 4. Kristen Nunnelly (Center Grove), 2:04.61; 5. Myra Retrum (Columbus North), 2:04.68; 6. Kenzie Miller (Plymouth), 2:05.30; 7. Aubrey Hertzler (Hamilton Southeastern), 2:06.91; 8. Lucy Kramer (Carmel), 2:07.09; 22. Meaghan McLaughlin (Chesterton), 2:11.33.

50 Free -- 1. Kait Flederbach (Westfield), 23.13; 2. Carly Mercer (Hamilton Southeastern), 23.41; 3. Brittany Fozkos (Chesterton), 23.67; 4. Tori Bagan (Homestead), 23.73; 5. Brittany Robinson (Wawasee), 23.86; 6. Cristina Gonzalez (Portage), 23.78; 7. Nina Damjanovich (Munster), 24.22; 8. Julia Pratt (Vincennes Rivet), 23.93; 17. Lauren Foor (Chesterton), 24.39; 23. Shauna Foor (Chesterton), 24.55.

1- Meter Diving -- 1. Meghan Potee (Noblesville), 467.5; 2. Kate Hillman (Shenandoah), 457.7; 3. Gail Susdorf (Fishers), 454.55; 4. Katie Bittner (Noblesville), 438.8; 5. Sydney Rickelman (Evansville Reitz), 408.25; 6. Katrina Kain (Hamilton Southeastern), 387.55; 7. Allison Belcher (Penn), 385.4; 8. Sara Meisenhelder (Carmel), 377.7.

100 Fly -- 1. Trish Regan (Carmel), 54.30; 2. Julie Ogden (Lawrence North), 55.14; 3. Brittany Robinson (Wawasee), 55.21; 4. Rhiannon Sheets (Carmel), 55.66; 5. Haley Richeter (Columbia City), 56.43; 6. Allie Day (Center Grove), 56.91; 7. Cristina Elliott (Terre Haute South Vigo), 57.48; 8. Casey Papp (Bloomington South), 57.76; 28. Meaghan McLaughlin (Chesterton), 1:00.44.

100 Free -- 1. Kait Flederbach (Westfield), 50.2; 2. Carly Mercer (Hamilton Southeastern), 50.63; 3. Zoe Mattingly (Zionsville), 51.22; 4. Olivia Kabacinski (Chesterton), 51.23; 5. Alexis Bullard (Carmel), 51.72; 6. Cristina Gonzalez (Portage), 52.08; 7. Aviry Reich (Hamilton Southeastern), 52.22; 8. Elizabeth Bowen (Bremen), 52.44.

500 Free -- 1. Colleen Drew (Carmel), 4:52.24; 2. Lauren Jordan (Carmel), 4:52.69; 3. Kristen Nunnelly (Center Grove), 4:53.27; 4. Megan Gallagher (McCutcheon), 4:56.51; 5. Margaret Ramsey (Carmel), 4:57.30; 6. Emmie Ryan (Avon), 4:57.78; 7. Audra Burtch (Concord), 5:00.94; 8. Kristin Vandeve (Columbus North), 5:01.03; 9. Julia Campbell (Chesterton), 5:03.8; 20. Kate Curley (Chesterton), 5:11.05; 21. Maddie Miller (Chesterton), 5:11.26.

200 Free Relay -- 1. Carmel, 1:34.58; 2. Hamilton Southeastern, 1:35.06; 3. Zionsville, 1:35.30; 4. Munster, 1:36.31; 5. Chesterton (Brittany Fozkos, Shauna Foor, Milana Socha, Julia Campbell), 1:36.54; 6. Homestead, 1:36.87; 7. Center Grove, 1:38.58; 8. Lawrence North, 1:39.40.

100 Back -- 1. Lacey Locke (Carmel), 54.6; 2. Allie Day (Center Grove), 55.83; 3. Brittany Fozkos (Chesterton), 55.86; 4. Brittany Gilbert (Munster), 56.01; 5. Amalia Kobelja (FW Snider), 56.25; 6. Mallory Miles (Southridge), 56.64; 7. Kenzie Miller (Plymouth), 56.88; 8. Amy Katz (Indpls. North Central), 57.22; 17. Lauren Foor (Chesterton), 58.66; 18. Maddie Miller (Chesterton), 58.74.

100 Breast -- 1. Emma Schoettmer (Center Grove), 1:02.49; 2. Lauren Stauder (Carmel), 1:03.31; 3. Tori Bagan (Homestead), 1:03.52; 4. Samantha Shaheen (Carmel), 1:03.7; 5. Melissa Robinson (Crawfordsville), 1:04.16; 6. Bridgette Ruehl (Lowell), 1:04.51; 7. Erika McCormick (Mt. Vernon), 1:04.71; 8. Heathey Hayes (Noblesville), 1:04.93.

400 Free Relay -- 1. Carmel, 3:25.14; 2. Hamilton Southeastern, 3:26.56; 3. Munster, 3:29.42; 4. Zionsville, 3:29.86; 5. Center Grove, 3:29.99; 6. Chesterton (Milana Socha, Julia Campbell, Maddie Miller, Olivia Kabacinski), 3:31.07; 7. Homestead, 3:33.27; 8. Northridge, 3:35.44.

Posted 2/15/2010