Franklin freshman Aleksandr Ries has already won county and conference championships in both the individual medley and breaststroke.
Daily Journal file photo
When Aleksandr Ries was younger, he didn’t take swimming all that seriously. He was talented — enough so to medal repeatedly at the Age Group State meet — but he was, by his own admission, “just going through the motions” at practices.
That changed when he was about 12 years old. Ries got a stern talking-to one evening from Franklin Regional Swim Team age group coach Colin Mothersead about the importance of putting in the work every single day.
“He stressed me out a bunch,” Ries said of that conversation. “I had such a bad experience that I did not want to waste my time anymore. If I’m going to be here, I might as well use that time to the maximum potential.”
Ries has been maximizing his potential ever since. He was the 14-year-old state champion this past summer in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke, and he’s making an immediate impact on the high school level as well. The Franklin freshman won county and conference championships in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breast, and he’s on track to not only qualify for the state meet in those events, but also score some points.
He’s not the only newcomer making a splash this winter for the Grizzly Cubs. Fellow ninth-grader Jovie Mowrey, who also came in as a high-level club swimmer, is shaping up as the latest in a growing line of elite performers for the Franklin girls. Mowrey was second in the 100 backstroke at the Johnson County meet, and she was third in both the back and the 200 IM at the Mid-State Conference championships.
Like Ries, she’s an age-group medalist who’s leveled up since joining Franklin’s senior training group. That didn’t come as a surprise to coach Zach DeWitt.
“Jovie is a very coachable athlete,” he said. “She’s really receptive to change and feedback, doesn’t allow emotion to cloud her judgment or take things personally, and so that makes her very easy to coach. She’s a very hard worker, she’s pretty smart, got a good feel for the water, so my job is easy — just provide the scaffolding she needs to take that next step.”
Helping Mowrey’s cause is the fact that she swims the same events as senior teammate Allie Lacy, who’s been a high school state medalist each of the last two years in both the IM and the backstroke. The two swim together each day in practice, and that mentorship has already paid dividends.
“I’m just trying to do my best by her,” Mowrey said of Lacy. “And I know that next year she’s not going to be here, so I’ll have to step up and take her place. So this year I’m just trying to learn from her and kind of follow her lead. She gives me a lot of advice, and I’ve learned so much from her; it’s really good to have someone like Allie to go off of, because that’s who I want to be like.”
Ries, meanwhile, has had to forge his own path in a way. He’s the top talent on a boys team that doesn’t have anybody who knows what it’s like to make a second-day swim at state. Franklin didn’t score at that meet last winter after placing in the top 10 each of the previous five years (with runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019).
“I don’t really have a role model, apart from the coaches, to follow,” Ries said. “I’d really benefit from someone like (former Grizzly Cub standout) Adam Destrampe, or someone to show me the ropes of how to lead that type of stuff, but I’m going to have to figure this out myself along with all the other freshmen.”
Though their paths so far haven’t been identical, Ries and Mowrey will both be at the forefront of what figures to be a resurgent Franklin program in the years to come. The Grizzly Cubs surrendered both sectional titles to Center Grove last year after a fairly lengthy reign (nine years for the boys, six for the girls), and they’re looking to get them back as soon as possible.
Ries is expected to lead that charge for the boys in the future — and he’s already doing so now.
“We’ve got a good group of seniors that are decent leaders, but we really like our talent in our freshman and sophomore classes,” DeWitt said. “(Ries is) one of those faces, but he’s certainly got to be the tip of the spear, so to speak, and everything will fall in line behind him. Lucky for us, that kind of pressure doesn’t bother him at all.
“He’s going to be a staple and a bedrock of the program for years to come, and we’re perfectly comfortable with that.”
