Take your mark, get set, GO! Junior, Audrey Crawford takes off on the block in the first event for Hamilton Southeastern High School in the 2022 IHSAA Girls Swimming/Diving State Championship; the 200 Yard Medley Relay. Crawford, third swimmer out of 4 had a split time of 23.78 seconds in the first event alongside her teammates Grace Newton, Kennedy Fisher, and Ashley Saple. The HSE Lady Royals finished second overall in the A-Finals bracket.

Audrey Crawford made a huge splash early in her high school swimming career earning multiple awards and even setting school and club records.

“To start with awards, I was newcomer of the year my freshman year and [sophomore year] I was MVP,” Crawford said. “My freshman year at [the] high school state [competition] we were runner up in the 200 medley relay, I was 9th in the 200 IM, 8th in the 100 fly and we were 6th in the 400 free relay.”

Awards are hard to come being an athlete for Hamilton Southeastern, especially individual awards.

The Individual Medley relay event consists of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. “My favorite stroke is probably butterfly or breaststroke,” Crawford said.

“Going into my sophomore year I made my first junior national cut in the 400 meter IM and the 200 meter IM,” Crawford said. I was swimmer of the year for our club team 3 years in a row, and I currently hold 28 of our club records and two high school records which are in the 100 fly and the 200 medley relay”

The third event of the 2022 State Championship, Girls 200 Yard IM, Crawford took home 5^th place for HSE with a butterfly time of 26.27, backstroke:30.60, breaststroke: 35.99, and freestyle: 29.10. She finished with an outstanding total time of 2:01.96.

In the 6^th event of the meet; Girls 100 Yard Butterfly, Crawford took home the silver medal placing second overall in the A-Finals bracket. Her first 50 yard time was 25.12 seconds with her second 50 yard split time being 29.24 second and a total time of 54.36 seconds to secure second place in the 6^th event.

Crawford is currently ranked 3^rd in the state of Indiana and 114^th in the 2024 class according to, Swim Cloud rankings. She is ranked first in the USA Club (Open) with Southeastern Swim Club, and 15^th in Indiana Swimming.

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, the 12^th event, Crawford lead off her team with a split time of 24.30 for the first 200 and then 25.11 for the second. She raced with her teammates Amelia Victory, Anna Stolle, and Ashley Saple. The girls finished 7^th overall in the A-Finals bracket.

“Staying in shape year round is pretty easy because swimming is year around so it doesn’t really stop,” Crawford said. “Our high school season is August to March and our club season is from April to August. I don’t train over spring break because that’s where our season stops but I occasionally train through fall break.”

The HSE Lady Royals Swimming/Diving placed 3^rd overall in the State Championship behind Fishers (2^nd place), and Carmel (1^st place). The Royals scored a total of 164 points behind Fishers’ 283 points, and Carmel’s 461 points. The team will kick off the start of their 22-23 season Nov. 22, 2022, facing the Noblesville Millers. Good luck Lady Royals! Story by Izzy Kistler.