<p><strong>A</strong>fter some disappointing performances at the Indiana Senior State club swim meet last July, Kabria Chapman was at what her coach, Zach DeWitt, called a fork in the road.</p><p>Chapman, who has also been an All-County volleyball player at Franklin, went home and had a heart-to-heart with her mother about what the path forward might look like, and whether that path would even include swimming at all.</p><p>“We had a discussion about it and I was like, ‘I’m not okay with that time,’” Chapman said. “I want to be better than that; I know I’m better than that.”</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“I told (assistant Colin Mothersead) that day that I felt like it was either going to make or break her,” DeWitt added, “and she came in that next day and said, ‘I’ve got to go all in if I’m going to change this,’ and since that moment in time, we’ve just seen a massive shift in perspective, the way she approaches things.</p><p>Instead of packing it in, the Grizzly Cub junior came back with a renewed vigor, and the work she’s been putting in is already paying off. Chapman owns the state’s fastest time this season in the 100-yard breaststroke, going 1 minute, 3.90 seconds at the Mid-State Conference meet last month.</p><p>That’s just five hundredths of a second off of her best time from last season’s state meet, and that’s without the benefit of a full postseason taper or the faster tech suit. DeWitt believes that Chapman will be able to go considerably faster this postseason, particularly at state.</p><p>“If you told me she went 1:01, I wouldn’t be shocked at all,” he said, “and in a year like this, I think that could win it.”</p><p>In addition, Chapman will again be a key to Franklin’s success in the 200-yard medley relay — the team finished second in the state to Carmel last year — and she’s also trying her hand at the 200 individual medley at this week’s sectional despite having only competed in it at one dual meet this season (against Shelbyville in early December).</p><p>“I haven’t been swimming it long enough to know (how well I’ll do) at all, but I’m just excited to try something new and hopefully drop some time,” Chapman said.</p><p>A year ago, Chapman coasted to a sectional breaststroke victory, but perhaps a bit too much so — her time of 1:06.32 sent her into the state meet as the 27th seed, which meant that she had to try to reach the top eight from the slowest of the four preliminary heats.</p><p>Amazingly, she did so, winning her prelim race by nearly two and a half seconds and posting the fifth-fastest time overall, a school-record 1:03.85. She went 1:04 flat in the final to hold onto that number five spot, adding to the state runner-up medal she earned in the 200 medley relay.</p><p>Neither Chapman nor DeWitt have any concerns about having to overcome a similar situation this year.</p><p>“The way she’s been clicking, I think she can go, at this point, 1:04s and 1:03s whenever the heck she pleases, and if that’s the case, she’s not going to have any problem,” DeWitt said. “Her destiny is in her own hands when you’re going that fast.”</p><p>Chapman has also taken her destiny into her own hands regarding her athletic future. Though she’s been playing some club volleyball this winter just for some fun on the side, it appears that she’ll be narrowing her focus to the water after that.</p><p>She’s verbally committed to swim at Indiana University after she graduates next year, and while some athletes will ease up after landing a scholarship, believing that they’ve accomplished their primary goal, Chapman says she believes it gives her more to prove — not only to her current teammates, but her future ones.</p><p>As DeWitt put it, she’s not going to IU to be just another face in the crowd.</p><p>This week and next, Chapman will be one of the faces of a Franklin team looking to win its fifth straight sectional championship and build on last year’s state runner-up finish. She’s liking the Grizzly Cubs’ chances to do so.</p><p>“I feel like the team’s really ready,” Chapman said. “At first, I wasn’t sure how it was all going to shake out, but the seniors and some of the underclassmen really stepped up and you can see that through the times they’ve already pulled this season. I’m excited to see what everyone can do.”</p><p>What Chapman does in these two upcoming meets could serve to demonstrate just how much of a change she’s made since coming to that fork in the road just over six months ago.</p><p>But even in the unlikely event that it doesn’t show up in her times, she’s happy with the path she chose.</p><p>“I’m a lot better of a mental state,” Chapman said. “Just putting in the work this summer really helped me out, and it kind of made me see swimming in a different way.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p><strong>Franklin Sectional</strong></p><p><strong>Today</strong></p><p>Swimming preliminaries, 5:30 p.m.</p><p><strong>Saturday</strong></p><p>Diving preliminaries, 9 a.m.</p><p>Swimming and diving finals, 1 p.m.</p><p>Admission: $6 per session, $10 for both sessions</p><p>Teams competing: Center Grove, Franklin, Greenwood, Greenwood Christian, Indian Creek, Whiteland, Martinsville, Mooresville, Owen Valley, Perry Meridian, Southport</p><p>Advancement: All event winners will qualify for the state meet, along with any individuals and relay teams that match or beat the state standard times on Saturday. If there are fewer than 32 such qualifiers in any event, the remaining state slots will be filled in order by those with the next-best sectional final times.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
