Franklin soph building on gutsy state debut

<p>Last February, Gracey Payne was on cloud nine heading into her first individual race at the state swimming and diving meet.</p><p>The freshman had started the preliminaries by anchoring the Franklin medley relay team, which easily qualified for the final with a school-record time. Seeded ninth in the 50-yard freestyle, she expected to advance and put the Grizzly Cubs in position to score more points.</p><p>But Payne missed the wall and finished 29th, more than a second off of her sectional time.</p><p>That type of adversity at such a big meet would have crushed most freshmen — but Payne shook it off and finished the weekend with three podium finishes. She helped the medley relay to a second-place showing, took seventh in the 100 freestyle and anchored Franklin’s fourth-place squad in the 200 freestyle relay.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>Both relays posted school-record times, and Payne’s 100 free time of 51.30 seconds briefly tied the school mark before teammate Carla Gildersleeve took it back minutes later with her leadoff leg on the 400 free relay.</p><p>Thanks in large part to Payne, the Grizzly Cubs placed fourth as a team — the best showing in program history.</p><p>&quot;I probably haven’t seen a girl on that kind of stage rebound quite that well,&quot; Franklin coach Zach DeWitt said. It’s probably the most resilient act I’ve ever seen at a state meet from a girl on my team, for sure. … Perhaps being a freshman takes some of that pressure off, but even then, I was amazed with what I saw.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I think it was just my mindset and the environment around me,&quot; Payne said of her ability to bounce back in such a big moment. &quot;Everyone was so positive, and it just caused me to want to do it for the team; I knew they needed me.&quot;</p><p>While she was able to recover from her hiccup in the 50 free, Payne has also used it as a motivator. Looking to do whatever she can to improve her performance, she approached Chris Service, a former Franklin Regional Swim Team coach and current Whiteland assistant, about making some changes to her diet.</p><p>Both Payne and DeWitt have noticed a difference; Payne says she feels as though she has more energy throughout the day, and DeWitt believes that the sophomore is recovering more quickly after workouts.</p><p>What fuels Payne as much as anything she eats, though, is her intense competitive spirit. Though she doesn’t necessarily demonstrate it outwardly, Payne is driven by a burning desire to win — as well as a quiet confidence that she can, regardless of who lines up on the blocks next to her.</p><p>&quot;I just think that she really, honest-to-God believes that she is better than nearly everyone she swims against,&quot; DeWitt said. &quot;And I don’t mean that as a slight or an arrogance at all; I just think that she has a hard time believing that anyone is better than her. And I think that’s an admirable quality.&quot;</p><p>Despite having that confidence and another year of experience under her belt, Payne admits that she’ll likely still have some jitters when she returns to the IU Natatorium next month. But in the meantime, she’s locked in on the process of preparing herself to excel on that grandest of stages.</p><p>&quot;I just want to be really focused and get my mindset ready,&quot; she said. &quot;I want to perform well in practice to get me to that point, and I just want to see what I can do.&quot;</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p><strong>Mid-State Conference meet</strong></p><p>Where: Mooresville High School</p><p>When: Thursday, 5:30 p.m. (preliminaries); Saturday, 8 a.m. (finals)</p><p>Defending champion: Franklin (boys and girls)</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]