Bloomington South's Paegle, North's Freel headline girls' swim teams

Back from her worldwide summer and fall tour, Bloomington South senior and Indiana University recruit Kristina Paegle is ready to make one last splash at the high school level.

She's out to win an unprecedented third straight 100 freestyle title and nab her first 200 free championship after two close calls. This coming after qualifying for the Olympic trials in July and representing the U.S. in meets in Hungary and Germany in October, where she was on a junior world record-setting relay.

"She learned a lot and had a lot of fun," South co-head coach Annie Eakin said. "She was glad to be able to compete at that level, to get that taste of what it's like to be an international athlete."

More:South's Paegle 3-peats as H-T Swimmer of the Year

More:Bloomington's Paegle wins more gold in Budapest

She took a couple weeks off and is back at it and one of the team captains for the Panthers, who open the year on Tuesday against East Central, while Bloomington North has had its first two meets and Edgewood got its opener in last Tuesday.

Here's a look at how the county's three programs stand heading into the season:

Bloomington South

Paegle is the only senior for a team that includes a strong junior class and some promising freshmen for Eakin and co-coach Phil Cole, who returns. South did lose state qualifier Chloe Talbert to a family move to Texas. Diving coach Alex Burns has a large group to work with his year.

The junior class includes Alex Eakin, a state qualifier in the 500 free and looking to make it to the second day this time around. Her second event last year was breaststroke, but it's up in the air this year. Also back is Grace Nelson, a four event swimmer in the breast, butterfly and two relays; Penelope Paul in the 500 and backstroke and Nora Nelson Laird, who will do sprint frees again.

Sophomores returning include Annalise Coyne (fly, IM), Lucy Tait (distance frees) and Abby Smith (50 free, back).

Among 11 freshman, standing out are Anna Asplund (back, IM), and Scout Stumpner, who is strong in several strokes and could help in a number of areas including relays, where a lot of spots are open due to graduation.

Diving sees the return of junior Carina Jacobson, who is no longer splitting her time with the dance team. She was third at sectional and 17th at regional. Also back are sophomores Elaina LaFollette, Claire Lutz and Natalia Oglesby with three freshmen added on in Nadia Radu, Emiko Ritchie and Elliana Wyatt.

Bloomington North

The Cougars' roster is a big one, 26 swimmers and nine divers, so there should be some good, healthy competition for sectional spots. And there are eight seniors to lead the way.

"It's just so exciting," coach Taylor McGregor said. "We're getting some depth back and the seniors are integral to our leadership and they're stepping up into that role.

"There's a lot of encouragement and good racing in practices."

And meets, too. Sophomore Ashley Freel exploded out of the gate following her strong debut last year, breaking school records in the 100 back and 100 and 200 frees, none of which were her postseason events last year (200 IM and fly). She was just .01 off the fly record last year, so expect more marks to go down.

More:North's Freel flying out of the gate

"She trains like a beast," McGregor said. "So she's definitely earned her place on the record board and I will look for her to continue that trend.

Which means no record is safe and there are plenty of directions she can go. Freel is also a part of the medley relay that broke the school record last year and returns the other three members, juniors Annie Murer, Lucy Mitchell and Karen Tabbal.

Mitchell is back in the breast and IM and with an improved freestyle stroke. Murer (sprint frees) trained well off-season and could stretch into the 200 free as a result. Tabbal is also back in the sprint frees, where North is loaded.

The senior class includes several strong returning swimmers in Bella Buehler (500 free, breast) and Delani Fisher (500 free, back last year, a mix that might change) and Maria Alminauskas (distance frees) who are captains. Izzy Stults (breast), Sophia Thorbecke (fly) and Ali Somes (fly) also return.

Sophomore distance free swimmers Addie Covey and Adrianna Terry are back, joined by Hope Westphal, a club swimmer doing high school for the first time.

In the diving well, senior Lucie Sorenson leads the way for a group that is sophomore heavy with Bella Martin, Kendelle Moore, Aryana Wallace and Lily Sledd returning.

Edgewood

Another short roster for the Mustangs and coach Jeff Kohne includes seven swimmers and two divers.

The lone senior is Ellie Graef, who made the B Final at sectional in the 200, but came in 17th in the 500 free and returns in both. She'll be a key piece for the relays, too.

Also returning are junior Jenna Crosley (back, IM, relays) and sophomores Allison Lilley(200 free) and Marylin Ballard (100-200 free, relays).

Three freshman come on board in Ellie Lewis, who did IM and breast in the season opener, Nayeli Young (100 free, breast) and Abigail Barrett.

The Mustangs have two divers in freshman Kimmie Franklin and senior Kora Martin, who did sprint frees last year.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.