Franklin senior Brady Campbell, a winner in the 200 and 500 freestyle at sectional, hopes to help the Grizzly Cubs regain their place among the state’s elite this weekend.
Daily Journal file photo
“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”
— Sylvester Stallone, “Rocky Balboa”
A year ago, Franklin’s boys swimming and diving team wasn’t even in the ring for the fight on the second day of the state finals. They’d been knocked out cold in the preliminaries — a shocking fall from grace.
After finishing as the state runner-up in both 2018 and 2019 and following up with two more top-10 showings, the Grizzly Cubs were shut out of the team scoring entirely last winter. That, coupled with a nine-year run of sectional championships getting snapped, served as a harsh reminder of how quickly the bottom can fall out.
Franco Chirinos has seen both ends of it. He watched as a freshman two years ago when a loaded senior class led by Cade Oliver and Mac Ratzlaff powered Franklin to a fourth-place team finish, and he was suited up at the IU Natatorium last winter as part of the team that came up empty.
Last winter, he says, shook his image of what Franklin swimming is supposed to be.
“It just didn’t feel right for Franklin,” Chirinos said. “In terms of club, too, I’ve always gone to state, and just not going to state finals, it just didn’t feel right. So this year, me and all of my other teammates — Jacob Meinczinger, Isaac Layton — we’ve all decided, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do something about it this year.’ This year can’t be another wash like last year, where we just got blown out of the water at sectionals and straight-up not make finals at state.”
The vibe has been different on the pool deck since the Grizzly Cubs hit that low point. The returning swimmers from last season have tried to set a different tone, and they’ve gotten some help from the infusion of some new blood. Senior Brady Campbell, a transfer who qualified for state as a sophomore at Whiteland, and a talented and confident freshman class led by Aleksandr Ries, have added a bit of an edge that wasn’t always there last winter.
“We got a little swagger from (Ries),” Franklin coach Zach DeWitt said. “He’s really dialed in when the pressure is on, and pressure creates a diamond in his particular case. And Brady is our spirit animal. He’s not the most serious guy sometimes at practice — he’s a bit of a nuisance — but you turn him into an environment like this, and you cannot get in his head. I’m not sure where that comes from, but he’s a hell of a kid.”
Campbell proved his crunch-time mettle at the sectional meet last weekend, winning the 200-yard freestyle and then outdueling Center Grove’s Sam Smith for a somewhat surprising win in the 500 as well. That race has him even more fired up to race at state.
“I really like the competitive aspect,” Campbell said. “Being out there and wanting to beat someone bigger and faster; that just kind of proves that if I’m with those bigger dogs, then that means I can play with the bigger dogs.”
Franklin will be up against plenty of bigger dogs this weekend — not only local sectional champ Center Grove, which is expected to contend for a spot in the top five, but also perennial powers such as Carmel and Zionsville. The Grizzly Cubs aren’t back to the point where they can think about hanging another runner-up banner or knocking off the Greyhounds for a title, but they’ve come far enough back that DeWitt has set a return to the top 10 as a goal — one that he and his team consider ambitious but realistic.
The coach led off his Monday meeting with the team by reminding these Grizzly Cubs of what happened at state last year, but he’s also making it a point to express his pride in how quickly they’ve gotten themselves back up off the mat.
“We’ve got a lot to swim for,” DeWitt said. “Of course we wanted (the sectional), no doubt about it, but we’ve got some really good kids swimming at the state meet and we’re going to have all three relays in, so I’m really excited. These boys have blazed a trail, so to speak, for our program to get back where it needs to be, and their fingerprints are all over that.”
“We’ve definitely come together as a team. We’ve been having a lot more fun this year and definitely been putting in the hard work,” Campbell added. “We’re definitely getting back there … but the job’s not finished yet.”
IF YOU GO
IHSAA state meet
When: Today, 6 p.m. (swim prelims); Saturday, 9 a.m. (diving prelims) and 1 p.m. (finals)
Where: IU Natatorium, Indianapolis
Admission: $10 per session, $19 full weekend (digital only); a limited number of $22 reserved seats are also available
Live video: IHSAATV.org ($10 prelims, $15 full weekend)
SCOUTING THE STATE MEET
An event-by-event breakdown of what to expect at this weekend’s boys state swimming and diving finals:
200 medley relay
Top seed (based on sectional times): Carmel (1:29.78)
Local qualifiers: Center Grove (seventh, 1:34.14); Franklin (16th, 1:36.05)
What to look for: The showdown at the top between the Greyhounds and Zionsville. If the Eagles, last year’s overall team runner-up, are going to seriously challenge Carmel’s quest for a ninth straight title, they’ll likely need to start with a victory here. Locally, Center Grove has a good chance to medal in this event again, while Franklin will have to swim well tonight to earn a second swim and get in the scoring mix.
200 freestyle
Top seed: Aaron Shackell, Carmel (1:35.66)
Local qualifier: Brady Campbell, Franklin (23rd, 1:43.66)
What to look for: Shackell, who comes in with a cushion of 2.56 seconds over the field, was runner-up last year and is an overwhelming favorite to win this time around. Can he challenge Drew Kibler’s six-year-old state record of 1:33.30? Campbell would likely have to drop more than a second off of his sectional time to have a chance at the top 16.
200 individual medley
Top seed: Adam McCurdy, Fort Wayne Carroll (1:47.32)
Local qualifiers: Aleksandr Ries, Franklin (14th, 1:54.25); Isaac Lewis, Center Grove (20th, 1:55.98)
What to look for: McCurdy is the top seed, but he’s just .23 seconds ahead of Zionsville senior Will Modglin, who’s won this event the last two years and set a state record last winter when he went 1:44.10. It’ll be a shock if Modglin doesn’t make it three in a row. Ries is about two seconds out of the top eight but should have a good shot to at least score points; Lewis isn’t far out of the top 16, either, and could also very well earn a Saturday swim.
50 freestyle
Top seed: Matthew Klinge, West Lafayette Harrison (19.74)
Local qualifier: Evan Hernandez, Center Grove (fifth, 20.93)
What to look for: Defending state champion Klinge is the clear favorite — nobody else in the field went under 20.36 at sectionals — but the other positioning is wide open. Hernandez should be able to drop a little more time and get himself into top-eight position; at that point, Saturday’s race will likely be a crapshoot.
1-meter diving
Top seed (based on regional scores): Jacob Schade, Fishers (501.50)
Local qualifier: Austin Clark, Franklin (14th, 376.70)
What to look for: Comparing regional scores is often a fool’s errand because the judges are all different, but the four highest scores came out of the Fishers Regional; Oak Hill’s Grant Cates (499.95) and Nathan Cox of Hamilton Heights (492.30) weren’t far off of Schade’s number there. Clark, making his state debut, is hoping to crack the top 16 and put some points on the board for the Grizzly Cubs.
100 butterfly
Top seed: Isaac Martin, Munster (48.37)
Local qualifiers: Sam Smith, Center Grove (12th, 50.86); Evan Dennis, Indian Creek (16th, 51.21); Henry Lyness, Center Grove (22nd, 51.84)
What to look for: Martin should face a challenge up top from Klinge (48.53); former teammates Smith and Dennis, meanwhile, are both in scoring position heading in. Lyness is making his state meet debut but has plenty of experience swimming at the Nat in big age-group meets; can he crash the party and crack the top 16 too?
100 freestyle
Top seed: Sean Sullivan, Carmel (44.18)
Local qualifier: Hernandez, Center Grove (ninth, 46.60)
What to look for: Sullivan and second-seeded Will Raches of Zionsville (44.96) finished 1-2 last year and are likely to do so again; can Raches pull off the win? Hernandez’s sectional time put him just .02 seconds outside of the top eight, so he’s certainly got a chance at medaling in this event as well.
500 freestyle
Top seed: Shackell, Carmel (4:23.55)
Local qualifiers: Campbell, Franklin (10th, 4:36.91); Smith, Center Grove (12th, 4:37.23); Aleks Parsetich, Center Grove (20th, 4:42.80)
What to look for: Shackell and teammate Gregg Enoch, last year’s runner-up, are well clear of the rest of the field and should battle for first place. Campbell and Smith are both within shouting distance of the top eight, and each should be able to score points here. Campbell qualified in this event two years ago as a Whiteland sophomore. Parsetich could also make his way to Saturday by dropping some time tonight; his seed time is 1.26 seconds back of 16th.
200 freestyle relay
Top seed: Zionsville (1:24.17)
Local qualifiers: Center Grove (fifth, 1:25.96); Franklin (15th, 1:27.37)
What to look for: The Eagles will face a serious challenge here, with Carmel, Homestead and South Bend Riley all .53 seconds or less behind them last weekend. The Trojans would need to do some work to crack that top four, but they should be able to secure a podium spot with a decent swim tonight. Franklin isn’t a sure bet to score points but is capable of climbing the ladder and threatening for a top-10 spot.
100 backstroke
Top seed: Modglin, Zionsville (45.53)
Local qualifier: Lyness, Center Grove (fourth, 50.73)
What to look for: Modglin is going for a third straight crown in this event too, and his sectional time would be good enough to break Wyatt Davis’ meet record of 45.80. There’s a good chance that mark falls this weekend. Lyness, the highest-seeded county individual in any event, should be able to finish in the top five and whet the appetite for a possible run at the top of the podium next year.
100 breaststroke
Top seed: Brandon Malicki, Carmel (55.19)
Local qualifier: Ries, Franklin (ninth, 56.82)
What to look for: Ries’ sectional time matched the 27th-fastest 100 breast ever swam by an American 14-year old. He won’t win the event this year, but he’s got a chance to crack the top eight. Malicki and McCurdy were separated by just one hundredth of a second during sectionals; expect one of them to take the top prize, although Christopher Bartmess of South Bend Riley (55.44) could also challenge.
400 freestyle relay
Top seed: Fort Wayne Carroll (3:07.88)
Local qualifier: Franklin (14th, 3:14.04)
What to look for: Will Zionsville still be in contention for the team title by now, or will Carmel have put it away? If it’s close, both teams are part of a closely-packed group at the top, which could make for a dramatic finish to the meet. The Grizzly Cubs would be happy to wrap up with yet another top-16 finish after not getting any Saturday swims last winter.
