2024 Swammy Awards: High School Teams Of The Year — Carmel (IN) Girls & Bolles (FL) Boys

01/04/2025 09:00 AM

By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

The Carmel girls and Bolles boys put on dominant displays in 2024, earning the 2024 Swammy Award for High School Teams of the Year. This is the second straight win for the Carmel girls, as they claimed the girls' title in 2023.

Let's start with the Carmel girls—by winning the 2024 IHSAA Girls' State Championship, the team claimed a historic 38th consecutive state title, extending their national record for the longest high school state title streak in any sport. The team earned 433 points to claim their record title, with Penn earning second place with 212 points.

A trio of Carmel swimmers—future Olympian and junior Alex Shackell, junior Lynsey Bowen, and sophomore Molly Sweeney—claimed double individual event wins. Shackell highlighted the day by breaking the 100 fly state record she set the day before with a 50.25. Later, she scared the 100 backstroke state record, coming .13 seconds from Berit Berglund's mark and breaking 52 seconds for the first time with a 51.63.

Bowen also broke a state record, shattering her mark in the 500 freestyle from 2023 with a 4:40.74. She won the 200 freestyle with a 1:45.74, beating the field by over two seconds. Sweeney won the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. In the 200 IM, she flirted with her state record, touching in 1:56.25 to narrowly miss her 1:55.88 record from the year before.

The Carmel girls won the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. Kayla Barr, Sweeney, Shackell, and Grace Dougherty won the opening medley relay with a 1:39.13, clearing the field by 2.5 seconds. The Greyhounds ended their meet on a high note as Shackell, Bowen, and Sweeney teamed with Faith Goreyto swim 3:18.66 in the 400 freestyle relay, demolishing the field to seal their title.

The Bolles boys were on fire at the FHSAA 1A State Championships this fall. They roared to the team's 37th straight state championship by winning every swimming event and sweeping the podium multiple times. Bolles scored 626 points to earn their 2024 title, more than double the 209 points the runner-up Saint Andrew's School scored. Florida's boys teams race in the fall, while the Indiana high school season is in the winter, meaning the Bolles boys are currently one win behind Carmel's streak.

The senior class played a huge part in closing out their high school careers on the right note, as Andrew Kravchenkoand Xavier Sohovichwere double individual event winners, and Antoine Destangand Eldad Zamireach stood atop the podium in an individual event.

Kravchenko repeated as the 50 freestyle state champion, then completed his sweep of the sprint events by winning the 100 freestyle. He set lifetime bests in both events (19.84/43.65). Sohovich earned his wins in the 200 and 500 freestyle, dropping over two seconds in the 200 freestyle (1:34.92) and seven seconds in the 500 (4:20.27) to secure his wins.

Destang and Zamir led big performances by Bolles swimmers. Destang headed up a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 butterfly (47.61), while Zamir defended his 100 breaststroke title (54.69) and led a 1-2-3-4 sweep.

The team's other double-event winner was junior Liam Carrington, who led 1-2-3-4 sweeps for Bolles in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke, swimming lifetime bests of 1:47.16 and 48.51, respectively, to win his two individual events.

Bolles ran away with the relay wins as well; seven boys contributed to the relay wins as Charles Zuhoski and Tristan Dorvillejoined Kravchenko, Sohovich, Destang, and Zamir in contributing to the victories. Carrington, Zamir, Destang, and Zuhoski won the 200 medley in 1:28.09, Kravchenko, Zuhoski, Dorville, and Destang swam 1:21.15 to win the 200 free relay, and Sohovich, Destang, Carrington, and Kravchenko won the 400 free relay in 2:56.44.

Honorable Mentions

• Keller High School (boys): When the Keller High School boys' won this Swammy in 2023 after claiming their first-ever state title, we noted that the future was bright for the program as only one of the eight swimmers who contributed to the winning relays graduated. The Keller High School boys continued to impress in 2024. Led by Maximus Williamson, the team repeated as  UIL 6A champions and broke four national high school records. Williamson broke the 200 IM and 100 freestyle national high school records, clocking 1:40.81 and 41.81. He was also on Keller's two national high school record-setting relays. Williamson teamed with River Paulk, Riccardo Osio, and Cooper Lucasto set the 200 free relay high school national record at 1:19.21. Williamson, Lucas, and Paulk were back on the blocks for the 400 freestyle relay, combining with Maxwell Stanislausto swim 2:53.80, closing their championship-winning effort with another national high school record.
• Santa Margarita (girls and boys): The girls’ team was without star Teagan O'Dell, but even that didn't shake Santa Margarita, as the girls and boys swept the team titles for the second year in a row. The girls swept the freestyle relays. In the 200 freestyle relay, Santa Margarita repeated as champions, with Victoria More, Morgan Hoope, Ariel Lin, and Chloe Stinson holding off a late charge from San Roman Valley, winning in 1:33.35. In the last event, Mori, Audrey Lee, Lin, and Gracyn Aquinoclocked 3:22.80 to win the team's third-straight 400 free relay title by over a second. Neither the girls nor the boys claimed an individual state title, instead using their depth as a team to power their state titles.

Previous Winners

• 2014 Swammy (Split): Chesterton (IN) Boys/Carmel (IN) Girls
• 2015 Swammy: Carmel (IN) Girls
• 2016 Swammy: Carmel (IN) Girls
• 2017 Swammy: Carmel (IN) Girls
• 2018 Swammy: Fossil Ridge (CO) Girls
• 2019 Swammy: Baylor School (TN) Girls
• 2020 Swammy: Carmel (IN) Boys
• 2021 Swammy: Bolles School Boys
• 2022 Swammy: Carmel (IN) Boys
• 2023 Swammy: Carmel (IN) Girls & Keller (TX) Boys

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