Of the 10 events in which the Columbus North and Columbus East swimmers have qualified for this weekend’s Boys Swimming State Finals, the vast majority are “On the bubble.”
A few are on the bubble between positions that will be the difference between qualifying for the consolation heat or going home. A few more are on the bubble between positions that could qualify them for either the championship or consolation finals.
“We have been training really hard for this, so I think we just have to do what we have been doing all this year — just go and swim fast and do our best so we can swim even faster on Saturday,” said junior Carlos Fabian Aguilar, who is part of North’s 400 freestyle relay team.
The Bull Frogs will swim in seven events and the Olympians will swim in three in the second session of the prelminiaries, which begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday at IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium. The top eight overall times from the two prelim sessions qualify for Saturday’s finals, while 9-through-16 in each event make the consolation heats.
The only Columbus swimmer to have one of the top eight sectional times is North senior Christopher Lee. Lee, who is making his third consecutive state appearance in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke, is seeded eighth in the 100 backstroke and 10th in the 50 freestyle.
“I definitely plan on going faster than last week, and I definitely plan on finishing at a higher placing than I did last year,” Lee said. “That’s the goal, and I think that’s really achievable as long as I stay focused and prepare the way I need to prepare for state.”
East sophomore Brady Beyer is seeded ninth in the 500 freestyle and 12th in the 100 breaststroke after winning the North Sectional in both events.
“I wasn’t super tapered,” Beyer said. “I was a little rested. We had a couple snow days, and then right after that, we took the workouts down a bit. We’re more focused on state, but we had to get there first. My goal Friday is to make top eight, and my goal Saturday is to give it the best race I’ve got and try to get as high as I can on the podium in both events.”
Beyer, who is in his first year of high school swimming, competed in the 200 individual medley earlier in the year before settling on the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke as his two individual events.
“We knew obviously that breaststroke is my best stroke, but we started to look at times from around the state, and we thought it would be a better fit for a 500 state final than a 200 IM state final,” Beyer said. “High school has been a little bit of a stretch because I’m not a super sprint-oriented person, but we made the transition as best as possible. It’s the longest distance in high school, so it should be the best fit for me.”
North sophomore Daniel Utterback finished second in both the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle in the sectional, but earned call-backs in both after having one of the top times among non-sectional champions or swimmers making the state standard.
Utterback is seeded 23rd in the 100 freestyle and 27th in the 200 freestyle.
“I was really grateful that I would have another chance to do better than I did at sectional because I was a little unsatisfied with how I did there,” Utterback said. “But (coach Logan Schaefer) is preparing us to do better at the state meet, so I’m just thankful to have another opportunity.”
Meanwhile, the Bull Frogs also qualified all three of their relay teams to state. The 400 freestyle relay team of Utterback, junior David Fry, Fabian Aguilar earned an automatic bid by winning the sectional title and is seeded 16th.
“Our goal is to get second swims in hopefully all of our relays,” Fry said.
North earned call-backs in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. Lee, sophomore Pratt Badve, Fry and junior Matthew Goble are seeded 19th in the 200 medley relay.
“I think we’re ready,” Goble said. “We just have to work together, stay focused this last week of our season and show what we’ve been working on this entire season.”
“This was our goal — to send all three relays to state, so achieving this goal was really satisfying for all of us,” Badve added.
Utterback, Fry, Goble and senior Aidan McAlister in 200 freestyle relay are seeded 19th in the 200 freestyle relay.
“This is a meet that we prepare for all season, and being able to swim at the meet is just a great opportunity to show what we can do,” McAlister said.
This is only the second time in the past 19 years that the Bull Frogs have qualified all three relays to the state meet.
“It’s a great accomplishment for us,” Schaefer said. “The goal this year was to set ourselves up to be really successful at the sectional meet and qualify as much as we could for the state meet. It’s great to see the call-backs reflect the work that we’ve done. Qualifying those three relays was a big goal for us this year. They’ve worked hard for it, and we’re excited about the opportunity to qualify them all back to Saturday.”
The Olympians’ 200 medley relay team also received a call-back to state. Junior Dathan Wolf, Beyer and seniors Mason Curry and Chad Kelley are seeded 27th.
The East contingent are the first swimmers from the school to qualify for the state meet since 2008. The Olympians now will look to make the finals, if not in the relay, at least with Beyer.
“I think he has a pretty high probability of making the finals and being in the mix for a top-six, maybe top-seven finish in both of those events,” first-year East coach Doug Trueblood said. “The breaststroke is pretty competitive, but the 500 free, I think he has a high probability of being on the podium if he swims the way he can.”
