<p><strong>T</strong>he Indian Creek swim program has long punched above its weight class, sending numerous swimmers off to Division I colleges despite sometimes not having enough bodies to fill out three full relay teams.</p><p>Joey Smith appears next in line to carry on that tradition.</p><p>In a county loaded with top-tier swimmers this season — Center Grove’s Ethan Martin and Franklin’s Cade Oliver and Mac Ratzlaff are all returning top-three state finishers — Smith is emerging as another contender. Earlier this month, the junior turned some heads by winning the 50- and 100-yard freestyle titles at the Johnson County meet, breaking Martin’s record in the 50 with a time of 21.22 seconds.</p><p>Though he didn’t get a chance to go head to head with any of the area’s big three in those two races, his performances helped solidify the belief that he can hang tight with any of them if given the opportunity — which he likely will in at least one event at the sectional meet in February.</p><p>“If anything, this just gives him some confidence to swim with those guys,” Indian Creek coach Brad Smith said after the county meet. “You’re going to have to swim — if it’s not (Martin or Ratzlaff), it’s somebody else.”</p><p>“Ethan and Mac and Cade are really great swimmers,” Joey Smith added. “I would love to race one of them in a future meet. I just like racing people, as long as it’s close.”</p><p>Many of the races that Joey Smith has during the regular season aren’t particularly close; he has gone relatively unchallenged in most of the Braves’ dual meets, and he likely won’t face much resistance in the Western Indiana Conference meet next month, either.</p><p>Stepping up from that to potentially facing legitimate state championship contenders in the postseason might be a scary jump for some, but according to his coach, Joey possesses a lot of the same fearlessness that his cousin, recent Indian Creek grad Chase Smith, had in the water.</p><p>“Chase was no big kid by any means,” Brad Smith said. “He wasn’t this big, massive presence, but it didn’t matter; no one scared him. And I think that’s kind of where we’re going (with Joey). Mac and Ethan are great kids and swimmers, and probably in every essence they’re a little bit faster. But that’s not going to scare Joey. We’re just going to go get them and attack it.”</p><p>Chase Smith — who was Indian Creek’s captain the last few years and now has the school’s natatorium named for him — has served as a role model for his younger cousins Joey and Sam in a number of ways.</p><p>Joey says that Chase, who now contributes to the Braves as an assistant coach, has offered not only valuable input on technique in practices, but also a beacon to follow in terms of serving as a team leader.</p><p>Just having Chase — who is currently in the fifth round of his fight against Ewing’s sarcoma and was given a diagnosis of five months to live back in early April — on the pool deck almost every day has been a major driver for everyone involved; Chase has said one of his main motivations is being able to watch Joey and Sam compete during championship season, and his cousins want to do him proud while he’s watching.</p><p>“That’s one of the reasons I think I’m doing so well and training so hard is to do it for him, so he can see how well he’s been training us,” Joey Smith said. “I’m really doing it a lot for him right now.”</p><p>Unlike his cousin (and his younger brother Sam), Joey wasn’t a superstar coming up through the younger age groups. But as he’s grown into the frame of a Division I athlete in recent years, he’s come into his own — and he’s setting some lofty goals as a result.</p><p>Brad Smith is confident that his nephew will have some major-college options by the time he graduates, and Joey is already looking even beyond that. For now, though, he’d be happy with being mentioned in the same breath with the state’s best once February arrives.</p><p>“Trying to get podium at state would be a really good goal,” Joey Smith said. “Maybe top five.”</p><p>If he can stick close to the county’s big dogs come sectional time, that goal may indeed be well within reach.</p>
