Article courtesy Will Willems via ihsaa.org. Photos: Double Edge Media INDIANAPOLIS - Every year the other girls swimming and diving teams around the state of Indiana are raising their level. And every time, Carmel has the answer. The Greyhounds won their national record 40th straight state championship on Saturday afternoon at the Indiana University Natatorium, scoring 326.5 points to beat co-runners up Carroll (Fort Wayne) and Fishers. “We certainly understood we had a challenge in front of us, and we knew we needed to swim our best to have a chance,” Carmel head coach Chris Plumb said. “The girls really stepped up and did that.” It was the first time since the 2008 season that a team was within 100 points of Carmel at the state meet, with Carroll and Fishers finishing with 227 points, Plumb said that they told the girls leading up to the meet to embrace and welcome the challenges, not succumb to the pressure and give up anything. Senior Molly Sweeney said the Greyhounds embrace the challenges thrown their way and that it brings out the best in them. “This feels amazing and honestly I think this is the best year yet, because the competition has been closer,” Sweeney said. “Winning doesn’t feel as special when you win by like 10 seconds. But the relays were close, the individual events were close, it is much more rewarding.” The Greyhounds won five events on the day. They took the medley relay title for the 18th straight season, with the team of Leah DeBosch, Sweeney, Ellie Clark, and Sophia Floyd winning in a time of 1:40.90. “The big win for us was that medley relay, going two seconds faster than last week,” Plumb said. “I thought that was a huge win for our team and got us fired up.” Carmel also got two individual titles each from Sweeney and Clark. Sweeney took first in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 52.78 and in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 59.24. After a frustrating state meet a year ago, Sweeney said she had lost her love of swimming and seriously considered giving up the sport. But she took a step back and reprioritized things, and found passion for the sport again. “I really hated the sport. I was experiencing some over training syndrome and I’m being serious when I say I wanted to quit,” she said. “I kind of had to take a step back and realize there is much more to life than swimming, that I have this God given gift as an athlete and I’m just trying to use it to my fullest and make others around me better.” Plumb said Sweeney has been a fantastic leader for this Greyhound team. “Molly did a great job leading in and out of the pool,” Plumb said. “She understood what her role was, she unified the team and I love the way she brought the team together.” The sophomore Clark captured the 200-yard IM in a time of 1:57.73, moving from third to first in the final 50 yards to overtake defending state champion Jordyn Glassley of Carroll and Zionsville’s Haley Hunter. Clark also repeated as the champion in the 100-yard backstroke, touching the wall in 53.08. “Our team really swam well as a whole, and everyone stepped up when they needed to,” Clark said. “We got a lot of important races. I feel like I swam alright, but this is a meet where places mean more than time.” Carmel got a second place finish from Helena Gibson in diving, and third place finishes from Haley Morris in the 500-yard freestyle and Leah DeBosch in the 100-yard backstroke. The Greyhounds capped the State Finals with a third place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Team Scores: Carmel 326.5 Fishers 227 Carroll 227 Zionsville 201 Penn 157 Hamilton Southeastern 141 Chesterton 138 Valparaiso 122 Center Grove 76 Munster 73 Finals Results: https://www.ihsaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2025-26%20GSW%20State%20Results.pdf