When Cade Oliver was 10 years old, he used to hide under the bulkhead at the Franklin pool during practices.
Swimming, it seemed, just wasn’t his thing.
Franklin coach Zach DeWitt had a pretty clear message for Oliver’s mother at that point.
“Bribe him, do whatever you can, but just don’t let him quit,” DeWitt recalls saying. “It will pay off down the road; he just doesn’t know what he has yet.”
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What Oliver has is a rare gift for the sport, and just how good he can become has been coming into clearer focus. Now a freshman, the precocious Grizzly Cub appears to be on the brink of making a major splash this postseason.
At the Johnson County meet in December, he set a new meet record in the 200-yard individual medley at 1 minute, 55.51 seconds. The old mark had been set two years earlier by Indian Creek’s Wyeth Brock, who now swims for Indiana University.
Oliver also was a part of two record-setting relays at the county meet.
He followed up by setting a new 200 IM record at the Mid-State Conference meet earlier this month, also winning the 500 freestyle and being a part of two more relay records.
With the sectional meet looming in a couple of weeks, Oliver sits atop MaxPreps’ list of the state’s fastest times in the 500 freestyle and is second in the 200 IM. The two relays he competes on (200 medley and 400 freestyle) are both ranked first.
There’s a reason that Franklin’s coaches have affectionately dubbed him “Water Jesus.”
“Very rarely do people just float on the top of the water,” DeWitt said, “and he makes it look so effortless, and it’s truly because it is easier for him than most people.
“He’s the most talented kid I have ever coached, with no doubt; I have no reservation in saying that.”
That talent is a double-edged sword at times. It can enable Oliver to win certain race without being at his best, which might make some of the lessons his coaches are trying to impart seem a little less urgent.
Over time, Oliver has grown to understand that there’s a big difference between “good enough” and the best he can possibly be, and he’s been working harder to close the gap — but it’s been frustrating at times for everyone involved.
“It’s definitely been difficult,” Oliver said. “(DeWitt) has tried to push me to do things, and I don’t listen sometimes, and I fail later on. … I sometimes go a little later than what he wants me to.”
“Fortunately for us, anytime Cade’s needed to make a change, he has,” DeWitt said. “He knows what he has to do now. I’m sure there will be hiccups and there’ll be speed bumps along the way, but in the long run, I trust Cade will know how to do this.”
Helping matters has been the fact that Oliver now shares a pool every day with an extremely competitive group of teammates, led by one of Indiana’s top swimmers in junior Jacob Destrampe.
Having those positive influences around has pushed Oliver to improve his work ethic, and the close-knit team atmosphere has him looking forward to workouts rather than hiding from them.
“It’s been great,” Oliver said. “I feel like I’ve actually been wanting to go to practice now.”
It’s showing in the results. At the Speedo Winter Junior Championships East last month in Knoxville, Tennessee, Oliver was the youngest swimmer competing. He still finished 31st in the 400-meter individual medley, less than a second away from advancing to the finals.
And his time of 1:50.85 in the 200 backstroke matched the time put up at age 14 by Aaron Piersol — the current world-record holder.
DeWitt said that Oliver generally fares better at the longer distances featured in collegiate and national meets than he does in the shorter high school races, and that the freshman is still likely just scratching the surface of what he can do.
“He can be the best,” the coach said. “He could be the top guy in the nation for his age; he’s that good.
“Cade’s the real deal, and if Cade figures out exactly how to mentally approach practice and a meet, I don’t know if we know what we’ve got on our hands.”
The rest of the state is about to get its first taste.
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A look at Cade Oliver’s best individual and relay times this season and where he ranks among the state’s best, according to MaxPreps.com:
<strong>Event;Time;Rank</strong>
200 IM;1:54.55;2nd
500 freestyle;4:38.50;1st
100 backstroke;54.79;16th
200 medley relay;1:34.51;1st
400 freestyle relay;3:09.06;1st
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