Franklin sophomore Kathleen Lacy is hoping to medal in the 100-yard breaststroke at the state meet in February.
Daily Journal file photo
When Kathleen Lacy was about 11 years old, she got a little too caught up in the sort of humor that appeals to kids of that age (and of all ages, if we’re being honest).
She’s had to live with the fallout ever since, at least when she’s on the deck of a swimming pool.
“I had this parka, and it had the Speedo logo on it, and on the other side it had ‘Lacy’ embroidered,” the Franklin sophomore explained. “I thought it’d be funny, so I peeled off the S, the D and the O so it just said ‘Pee Lacy.’ (Coach Zach) DeWitt started calling me that — and it’s just stuck.”
A three-sport athlete as a freshman, Lacy chose to ditch cross country and track this season — and her progress in the water has accelerated as a result.
Lacy is already several seconds ahead of where she was in the 100-yard breaststroke at the same point during her rookie season. She swam a 1:08.60 in the event at the Franklin Regional Swim Team’s Holiday Season Slam a week before county; at the same meet a year ago, her time was 1:14.60.
Both Lacy and DeWitt are both feeling good about how her performances so far will translate into the bigger high school meets later this winter.
“I feel a lot stronger this year and a lot more confident in how I’ll do in championship meets,” Lacy said.
“The goal is to get to state, and we think we can get her to score a point or two,” DeWitt added. “Going from not even considering the sport until a week before her freshman year, to where we are now, where we have real aspirations of scoring at state, that’s a pretty big transformation. Obviously, she’s got the family lineage. She is what she’s billed as; she’s a great athlete, she doesn’t mind hard work and she’s a hellacious competitor.”
Lacy gets particularly competitive with her older sister Allie, a senior who has been a state podium finisher multiple times in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke. Though they generally swim different events during meets, that hasn’t stopped them from comparing themselves with one another at practice and at home.
“We always grew up competing, so that just traveled into high school,” Kathleen said. “It’s nice to have somebody to always be competitive with, with no limits to what we can say.”
There appears to be no limit to what “Pee” can achieve in the water during her high school career. Though she’s got some catching up to do in terms of seasoning, DeWitt doesn’t think it’s unrealistic for Lacy to eventually reach the same heights as former Grizzly Cub breaststroker and current Indiana University swimmer Kabria Chapman, who holds Franklin’s breaststroke record and was the state runner-up as a senior.
For now, Lacy’s focus is on the end of this season; she’d like to finish in the state’s top eight in the 100 breast and also help the medley relay team get back on the podium.
Franklin placed eighth overall at state last winter, a relatively disappointing result for a school that had finished in the top five each of the previous four seasons.
“We always show out at state,” Lacy said, “and last year was kind of not that great for us.”
Her progress since then seems like a sign that this year could be different.
