Today's edition (February 3rd) of the Indianapolis Star includes a story about whether the quality of a pool has anything to do with who qualifies for the swimming State Meet. Reporter Nat Newell's piece is a good read, and I recommend that you take a look.
Certainly, the depth, age and equipment of a pool are factors in how "fast" the pool might be. The top notch facilities at Hamilton Southeastern, Fishers, Indianapolis North Central, etc. are all relatively new, built for racing, and turn out a lot of top performances. It's no coincidence that many of Indiana's best swimmers call these pools home. But the talent, dedication and hard work of the swimmers has more to do with their results than just the depth of the pool or how much turbulence the lane lines eliminate.
Newell's story quotes Lawrence North head coach Mike Penrose as saying, "Water's water. If you want to go to state, win your sectional." That's because every event winner at each of Indiana's 20 sectionals gets an automatic berth in the State Meet, no matter what their winning time is. If you don't win your event, you have to match or exceed the IHSAA state cut in the sectional's final day for an automatic trip to the Natatorium. And if you fail to do that, you have to hope your time is among the best of the rest, and qualifies for a "call down" to fill the State Meet field of 32.
There's another way to look at who gets to the State Meet, one I believe it's time for the IHSAA to consider. I'll have more on that in my next post.
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