The growth continues. So does the progress. Cathedral High School girls swimming had one of its best seasons in recent memory in 2024-2025, making for a strong present for a team with a strong future. “It was a fantastic year,” Megan Ahnert said. The Irish girls in Ahnert’s third and final season as head coach not only won the City Meet, they registered a strong finish in the Schools With No Pools Meet and ended the season with an impressive postseason. The Irish girls finished fourth at the Section 14 meet at North Central with 204 points behind North Central (531), Franklin Central (446) and Lawrence North (249). The Irish won the City meet for the first time since 2020. “That was really exciting, just to have that energy,” Ahnert said of the City meet. Irish 2025 girls swimming again was led by the Class of 2026, a group Ahnert called “incredibly strong,” with freshman Olive Cunningham also turning in a strong season and following it with a record-setting postseason. “She just blew us out of the water this year,” Ahnert of Cunningham, who finished second in the 100-yard backstroke at the sectional meet. Cunningham set a school record in the preliminary of the event at the sectional meet with a time of 1:00.47. “It's just fantastic,” Ahnert said. “To not have a pool, and for them to have a different training schedule than what all of the other schools are able to do, and for us to still show up and be the highest finishing school that doesn't have a pool – the highest-finishing Catholic school – in our sectional is a great. We’re really proud of that.” The Irish placed two girls in the finals of every event at sectional, an achievement Ahnert called “incredible.” “This is the strongest post-Covid team we’ve had,” she said. The 2025 Irish girls were led by the following swimmers (with sectional results in parentheses): *Cunningham, freshman (100 backstroke, second, 1:01.31; 100 butterfly, sixth, 1:01.10). *Kiernan Fahey, junior (200 freestyle, eighth, 2:26.90; 100 breaststroke, eighth, 1:16.46). *Gabi Duke, junior (100 freestyle, eighth, 58.70; 100 backstroke, eighth, 1:05.53). *Jamie Chechitelli, junior (50 freestyle, 10th, 27.16; 100 butterfly, 10th; 1:08.22). *Adelaide Howard, sophomore (200 freestyle, 12th, 2:17.84; 500 freestyle, 13th, 6:28.47). *Addy White, junior (200 freestyle, 16th, 2:29.37; 500 freestyle, 12th, 6:24.17). *Grace Zuerner, sophomore (200 individual medley, 14th, 2:43.13; 100 breaststroke, 12th, 1:21.26). *Mary Murphy, senior (50 freestyle, 13th, 28.02; 100 freestyle, 15th, 1:01.41). As the lone senior, Ahnert said Murphy provided special leadership. “People gravitate toward her,” Ahnert said of Murphy. “She has a really good read on people, which helps her be a person you want to go to. She’s so approachable and has a really good mentality and a magnetic personality.” The 200-yard medley relay – Duke, Fahey, Cunningham and Chechitelli – finished third in 1:57.02 at the sectional. The 200-yard freestyle relay – Murphy, Zuerner, sophomore Ginny Neumeister and Howard – finished sixth in 1:52.74. The 400 free relay – Duke, Chechitelli, Fahey and Cunningham – finished fourth in 3:57.88. Every Irish swimmer turned in a career-best time in at least one event in the meet at sectional. “That as a coach makes you feel good for a lot of reasons,” Ahnert said. “You're excited that you know your swimmers are doing well. It’s, ‘OK, what we did worked. We like what we did here,’ and it was great seeing their excitement.” Ahnert, an assistant with the program for seven seasons before her three seasons as head coach, called leaving “absolutely this is one of the toughest decisions I've had to make.” “There have been ups and downs,” she said. “Watching it grow, then really honing in on the talent we've had the last three years, has just been incredible. And the community has been incredible. You bond in a different way when you don't have a pool. Swimming means a lot to these kids. “It's a level of commitment I never had to think about as a swimmer because my schools always had pools. There are just so many positive things I can say about them. They really do embrace those moments and just come out of it stronger than ever.” Which should provide for a strong program moving forward, with Ahnert saying the 200-yard medley relay has potential for a school record in 2025-2026 “if they train the way they did this year, with the same dedication.” “Those girls have so much dedication to swimming and commitment to the whole program,” Ahnert said. “They've bought in, which is great, so hopefully they can keep that momentum and energy going. It's hard to transition coaches your senior year and go to something different but they have such a strong foundation with what they do in club in the offseason and then since they've been swimming for so long together, that I think they'll do great.”