<p>INDIANAPOLIS</p><p>Joey Smith didn’t win his consolation heat in the 50-yard freestyle, but as far as the Indian Creek senior was concerned, he might as well have.</p><p>After glancing up and seeing his time — 21.02 seconds, good for second in the heat and 10th place overall as well as a school record — an elated Smith threw his fist up into the air.</p><p>Not only did that race (along with a 14th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay alongside teammates Sam Smith, Evan Dennis and Nolan Greene) help cap off a strong season, but it helped to whet the appetite for 2021-22, when all four of the Braves’ state competitors from this year will be returning.</p><p>"The first thing out of the water, Joey’s like, ‘I can’t wait to train for next year,’" Indian Creek coach Brad Smith said. "So knowing that all four of these boys are back, we’re just ecstatic. We did what we wanted to do this year, and it definitely gives us motivation for next year."</p><p>"It’s a big motivation to grind the training out, swim this summer a whole lot, get bigger in the weight room, stuff like that," Joey Smith agreed. "It’s just really huge to come out here and see how fast the fastest swimmers are going, and try to get there."</p><p>Center Grove also has plenty of motivated swimmers set to return after an eighth-place team finish. While senior Ethan Martin carried much of the scoring load on Saturday, underclassmen Ben Clarkston, Harrison Hite and Garrett Crist contributed on a pair of fifth-place relays. Clarkston and Crist also qualified in individual events but fell just short of advancing into the finals — Clarkston was 17th in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke, while Crist was 18th in the 200 individual medley.</p><p>Trojans coach Jim Todd called those Friday results "a hard pill to swallow," but he’s hopeful that they’ll use both those and the relay successes as emotional fuel going into next season.</p><p>"I couldn’t be happier for these guys," he said. "They had a great meet last weekend, and they came back this week and did a lot better."</p><p>Martin, who had previously said he didn’t think Center Grove replicate last year’s ninth-place team finish after so many graduation losses, was pleasantly surprised with how his younger teammates fared.</p><p>"They definitely exceeded my expectations, especially being a young group," Martin said. "Last year, it was almost all seniors, and this year, to have a sophomore, two juniors and one senior — I thought it was going to be a huge deficit, but for us to place one place higher than we did last year, I think those boys should be really proud of what they did this year."</p><p><strong>End of the road</strong></p><p>Franklin will also have talent returning next winter, led by a double relay medalist in Anthony Ries, but it does lose a highly decorated senior class of five state competitors — Barrett Daily, Albert Nusawardhana, Cade Oliver, Ethan Pheifer and Mac Ratzlaff — that has figured prominently in the Grizzly Cubs’ incredible achievements over the past four seasons.</p><p>Franklin earned state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019 and finished in the top nine each of the last four years.</p><p>"These guys have been trailblazers for our program," Grizzly Cubs coach Zach DeWitt said. "If you’re a 10-and-under boy looking at our program, it’s due to efforts like this that kids can dream, and I think that’s really important, that they know it can be done and it is done here in Franklin."</p><p>"We definitely left behind more than a fourth-place finish," Daily agreed. "We left behind a legacy and a way of training for those upcoming swimmers to follow and get back to where we are right now."</p><p><strong>Southern comfort</strong></p><p>Many of the most compelling rivalries in Indiana high school swimming this year will get renewed over the next four winters … but in the Southeastern Conference.</p><p>Johnson County’s top three graduating seniors are all headed off to swim at SEC schools — Oliver at Missouri, Martin and Ratzlaff at South Carolina — and several of the other top swimmers in the state will be competing in the conference as well.</p><p>Braden Rollins of Boonville, who finished second to Martin in the 100 freestyle on Saturday, is going to Alabama. The 200 free champ, Hamilton Southeastern’s Keegan Streett, will be at Georgia, and Carmel stars Griffin Hadley and Gus Rothrock are bound for Tennessee.</p><p>"I’m really excited to see those people again," Ratzlaff said. "I love competing against them, and I love talking to them. Honestly, one of my favorite parts about these meets is catching up with all my friends."</p><p><strong>Hurry up and wait</strong></p><p>The 15-minute break after the 50-yard freestyle — built in where the diving finals would ordinarily have taken place — turned into about 40 minutes as officials tried in vain to fix a malfunctioning timing system.</p><p>Both 100 butterfly heats and the consolation final of the 100 freestyle had to be hand-timed before the automatic timers were finally resurrected.</p>
