Extol Sports May 2017 | Page 48

EVENTS Sacred Heart Academy Swim Team Celebrates State Championship Valkyries capture fifth straight team title LOUISVILLE Sacred Heart Academy (SHA) in Louisville celebrated its state championship swimming team – and coach, Jim Luebbe, who was honored with the Tim Cahill Outstanding Coach Award – in late February after the Valkyries captured their fifth consecutive championship for SHA by winning six of 12 events and finishing with 372.5 points. Senior Brooke Forde finished the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:39.87. Forde also set a state record in the 200 free with a time of 1:44.68. Forde was named both the outstanding meet competitor and the Midway University Kentucky High School Athletic Association Female Student Athlete of the Year. Junior Tonner DeBeer won the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.02 seconds and the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.94 seconds. Forde and DeBeer led the way for Sacred Heart, swimming legs on the victorious 200 medley and 400 free relay teams. DeBeer, Sophia Miller, Allison Bauer and Forde won the 400-yard freestyle relay, and nearly broke the state record set by SHA last year. SHA is a college preparatory school for girls founded in 1877 by the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville. A national Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, SHA is an International Baccalaureate School with 99 percent of the students pursuing higher education in hundreds of colleges and universities nationally and internationally. The class of 2016 earned more than $29 million in college scholarships. SHA has won 84 state athletic championships. The school has more than 10,000 alumnae. 46 EXTOL SPORTS / MAY 2017