Munster sophomore Holden Raffin went for a morning swim.
He said he felt amazing the entire day and focused on motivational thoughts, telling himself, “I can do this.”
His confidence certainly showed Friday night in the boys swimming and diving state meet preliminaries at the IUPUI Natatorium.
Raffin advanced in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.0 seconds and in the 200 individual medley with a 1:50.57. He was third in the backstroke and seventh in the IM.
“It was a good meet for us. The kids swam fast,” Munster coach Mat Pavlovich said. “All of our swims tomorrow are top eight. You’ve got to be happy with no consolations. We couldn’t have asked for a better day.”
Sophomore Grant Afman finished seventh in the 100 butterfly at 50.03, and Munster’s 400 free relay also qualified in 3:09.49.
The 200 medley relay (fourth, 1:31.92) set a program record, as did Kyle Adams in the 100 breaststroke (third, 54.71).
“In the relay, our goal was to break the record,” Pavlovich said. “I don’t know what it is. The whole state just keeps getting faster.”
That message of speed was echoed by Valparaiso coach Adam Nellessen.
Valparaiso’s 200 free relay advanced with a third-place time of 1:26.27. Seniors Cole St. Aubin in the 100 free (fourth, 46.60) and Ryan Hrosik in both the 100 butterfly (second, 50.94) and 50 free (third, 20.45) also advanced.
Nellessen said that his team’s attitude was split about the preliminary results after an emotional sectional victory.
“I think the boys are a little disappointed,” Nellessen said. “The goal this week is coming in here and getting good times. For the most part, we did that. … We have some guys coming back (Saturday) so we’re excited about that.”
Both Valparaiso and Munster had shorter-than-normal turnarounds after their sectionals last week were postponed due to fog, forcing them to swim Friday rather than Thursday.
Chesterton had several teams and individuals advance to final heats Saturday. The 200 medley relay (sixth, 1:39.96), 200 free relay (seventh, 1:25.97) and 400 free relay (third, 3:07.12) all advanced. Individually, Nick Hanas in the 500 freestyle (sixth, 4:33.12) and 200 freestyle (seventh, 1:41.00), Andrew Alders in the 100 free (fourth, 49.60) and Ethan Wing in the 100 free (seventh, 46.51) all advanced.
Other Northwest Indiana swimmers who will compete in the finals include Highland’s Ethan Churilla in the 50 free (fourth, 20.46) and 100 free (third, 45.21) and Lake Central’s Riley Ingram in the 100 free (eighth, 46.56).
Robby General is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
