Joining the ranks of the state’s elite in swimming is, in most cases, a full-time endeavor. There isn’t much time left over for other activities, especially during the season.
Franklin’s Sarah Hoffman spread herself a little bit too thin as a freshman. She’s not making that same mistake twice.
"Overall, I’ve been a lot more paying attention to things in the pool and eliminating outside distractions," the sophomore said. "I used to miss a lot of practices for clubs, but I’ve dropped a lot of my clubs."
Hoffman — who Franklin coach Zach DeWitt labels as a "gamer" — was still able to qualify for the state meet last winter in the 500-yard freestyle, but she didn’t advance past the preliminaries. DeWitt believed that she was capable of much more.
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"Last year as a freshman, she just struggled with the mental demands and the focus demands sometimes," the coach said. "She had a great postseason, but her body of work leading up to that point maybe wasn’t substantial. This year, she’s really learned how to take her training to a whole different level, and she’s seen the fruits of her labor."
Being able to focus all of her mental and physical energy on swimming has helped Hoffman push herself to greater heights this season. She won the 500-yard freestyle at the county meet in December, placed second in the 200 freestyle and swam on the Grizzly Cubs’ 400 free relay team.
Hoffman hopes to be a state qualifier in all three of those events and score points as an individual in the 500. DeWitt thinks she can do even better than that. He’s seen a greater confidence in Hoffman coming off her state debut last year and is excited about the potential payoff.
"She had a dose of reality that she was as good as these girls," DeWitt said. "This year, she went into the season with that approach that she can compete with anyone.
"I know she’s going to be able to take her abilities up to the next level during the time when it matters."
That time starts this week, beginning with Thursday’s sectional preliminaries. Having spent more time paying attention to detail this season, Hoffman has no doubt that she’ll be ready.
"I’ve been focusing more on the small things in practice and the process and how they add up to the big meets," she said.
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A look at what to watch for at this week’s Franklin Sectional:
<strong>Swimmers and divers to watch</strong>
Center Grove: Sarah Kempf, Kenzie Mills, Devin Trammell
Franklin: Kabria Chapman, Jessie Fraley, Carla Gildersleeve, Sarah Hoffman, Anna McCahill, Gracey Payne, Ali Terrell
Greenwood: Faith Jackson, Alayna Kenworthy, Grace Nuhfer
Indian Creek: Lexy Burge, Sam Keymon, Lori McCormick, Bella Ratzlaff, Lexi Wilhoit
Whiteland: Addison Daily, Grace Fisher, Avery Herring
<strong>Times to watch</strong>
Event;Automatic state cut;2017 at-large cut
200 medley relay;1:48.96;1:49.89
200 freestyle;1:53.22;1:56.40
200 IM;2:06.95;2:07.15
50 freestyle;24.10;24.20
100 butterfly;57.08;57.23
100 freestyle;52.34;53.08
500 freestyle;5:05.24;5:08.69
200 free relay;1:38.71;1:40.26
100 backstroke;57.84;58.33
100 breaststroke;1:05.97;1:05.96
400 free relay;3:35.14;3:42.58
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<strong>Franklin Sectional</strong>
<strong>Thursday</strong>
Swimming preliminaries, 5:30 p.m.
<strong>Saturday</strong>
Diving preliminaries, 9 a.m.
Swimming and diving finals, 1 p.m.
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