INDIANAPOLIS
After a few down years last decade, Center Grove’s boys swim team has been trying to return to the habit of high state finishes again.
The Trojans placed in the top 10 of the team standings in each of the last two seasons, and after a strong showing in Friday night’s preliminaries at the IU Natatorium, they’re well positioned for a shot at getting there a third time in a row. Center Grove heads into today having locked up four swims in championship finals and one more in a consolation final.
“It is always difficult to come to this meet after being so hyped up at sectionals,” Center Grove coach Jim Todd said, “so for us to come back today and get right at our same times that we went there, and place as well as the kids did, I’m very happy with everything.”
Senior Garrett Crist led the way for the Trojans, finishing the night eighth in the 200-yard individual medley (1:53.21) and sixth in the 100 backstroke (50.61) while also swimming on a pair of top-eight relays.
“I’m proud of the team and how far we’ve come,” Crist said. “Our goal was to try to hold where we were, get top eight, which we did. I’m super happy with where we are, and we’re going to go all out tomorrow.”
The Trojans began the night by earning a spot in the championship final of the 200 medley relay. Crist, Connor Conkin, Ben Clarkston and Evan Hernandez finished the night seventh with a time of 1:35.00. The foursome of Clarkston, Hernandez, Harrison Hite and Crist then reached the A final in the 200 freestyle relay, posting a time of 1:25.42 to place sixth.
Clarkston earned another swim in the 50 freestyle, placing ninth in 21.21 seconds to put himself in the consolation final.
“The race was good, but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement,” he said. “Racing tomorrow, I’m just going to try to improve everything that I messed up on today.”
Clarkston also finished 21st in the 100 free (47.41).
Meanwhile, Franklin’s run of five consecutive top-10 team finishes will come to an end. The Grizzly Cubs, who graduated all of their scoring swimmers from last year’s fourth-place team, still have diver Drake Keller competing today but won’t bring any swimmers back.
“It’s certainly a low point,” Franklin coach Zach DeWitt said. “Culture and success and everything else in life is dynamic; it’s always changing. Because you win something some day doesn’t mean you’re going to win it the next day. The goal for us was to begin to build a new culture, almost create a phoenix from the ashes, so to speak, of previous classes, and I do think we were successful in doing that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what we wanted today.
“We’re not done yet. This is not our obituary column. I think that we’ll be back, and hopefully sooner rather than later.”
The Grizzly Cubs’ medley relay team of Jacob Meinczinger, Franco Chirinos, Anthony Ries and Callum Buchanan was 21st in 1:37.98. Ries, Buchanan, Isaac Layton and Meinczinger were 20th in the 400 free relay (3:15.47).
Ries, Franklin’s lone individual qualifier, was 18th in the 200 freestyle (1:43.18) and 24th in the 100 butterfly (52.00).
Indian Creek’s Evan Dennis tied for 19th in the butterfly (51.41). Greenwood’s Conner Peckinpaugh was 23rd in the 500 freestyle (4:46.53).
Today’s finals will represent the end of a four-decade coaching career for Todd, who has been at the helm for the Trojans since the fall of 1984.
He wasn’t quite ready Friday night to process the finality of it all.
“When I walk out of here tomorrow, then it may hit me that the next time I walk in, I’ve got to buy a ticket,” Todd said. “But at this point, we’re just focused on — we have five swims tomorrow, and we’ve got to make them the best that we can make them.”
