Sprint freestylers endure in long run for Bloomington North boys swimming ahead of state

A steady stream of sprint freestylers has turned into a wave of state berths for the Bloomington North boys' swim team.

The Cougars are looking to score points at the IHSAA finals for the fifth year in a row, its best run since 2011-15, when it set the school record at 116 in 2013.

The success has translated on the individual level but perhaps more so in the relays, where the Cougars decided last year the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. North set two school relay records and tied a third with several swimmers dropping an individual race to focus on the group efforts.

As a result, North placed sixth in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay and was 10th in the 200 free relay and scored 84 points while placing in the top 10. Friday, the Cougars, with the help of three call-ups, will take a big group to the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, looking to keep the freestyle ball rolling.

Looking back, last year's willingness by Ben Dixon, Ben Buehler and Jay Stewart to sell out to the relays might just be paying off this year. Maybe, they trained just a little bit harder to make sure they remained on the relay and not let their teammates down.

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"Definitely," North coach Max Irwin said. "And I think that now that we're going back to focusing on two relays and two individuals, they respect the relays all that much more because of the sanctity we held (the relays) to last year.

"Getting to see Ben, Ben and Jay make two individuals to state, super awesome, and it showed me and the rest of the coaches, yes, it was a good decision to just focus on the two free relays this year."

Former Cougars set the bar high

North's latest run of success in the sprint frees (50-100-200) started back in 2019 with guys such as Jack Koceja, Jacob Mumper, Antonio Hamilton, Blake Hatcher and Denton Coffelt. Then Quincy Slaper and Jack Steiner came along and then Buehler, Dixon and Stewart picked up where they left off.

Quantity and quality gave Irwin plenty to work with each year.

"In high school, you don't have to worry as much about the longer races," Irwin said. "And as a coach, that's lucky for me because it's easy to get people excited about a 50 or a 100, usually a 200. If you lift a lot of weights and get really strong and you sprint a lot in practice, you can be pretty decent at sprinting.

"So those are things that also liked, so it's easy for me to get them excited about it."

When Irwin took over, he also wanted to focus on more dry land work. The weight room is now a bigger priority and it took some time to get North's swimmers to learn how to best use that resource.

"It took a few years to get everyone familiar with the lifts," Irwin said. "We lift heavy and they look like it. The stereotypical 50-100 freestyler you see, that's the mold

"Changing the culture is difficult and maintaining a culture can also be difficult. But when you have these guys who have been putting in the work and really being great leaders on the team, it makes it a lot easier for me as a coach to maintain that work ethic."

The medals they earn are also motivating and make it easier for team captains to set the tone for that ethic.

"The fact they go to state gives them that much more credibility with the rest of the team," Irwin said.

High seeds for IHSAA state boys swimming meet

Individually, senior Ben Dixon is seeded eighth in the 100 free and junior Jay Stewart eighth in the 50 free, while the 200 free relay is seeded fifth and the 400 free relay is seeded ninth. The Cougars also have Ben Buehler in the 100 and 200 frees on call-ups and Dixon in the 50 free on a call-up (seeded 17th with a good shot at the B Final).

Dixon, the 100 and 200 free sectional champ last year, blasted a 46.00 in the 100 free sectional prelims to break the school record (46.53) set by Irwin in 2012. It was a full second faster than his sectional winning time from last year (46.99). Irwin noted only three others were under 46 at sectionals.

But, "The other part is, a lot of people who are going to perform at that level, don't always have to compete as hard at sectionals to get there," Irwin said.

Stewart's forte as a freshman was fly and back, but last year, went 21.43 to win a Conference Indiana title and break the meet record in that event. He chose fly as his event last year (taking third at state). This year, he traded the back for the 50 and laid down a career-best 21.09 in the finals.

Last year, 21.60 won the 50 free. This year, that time would have been no good for better than fifth and as a result, Dixon was one of three swimmers from the Columbus sectional to be called up.

Dixon, Buehler and Stewart were joined by junior Landon Mobley (eighth in the 50, sixth in the 100 at sectional) in both free relays at sectional. Both relays have the school records (1:25.75 in the 200 and 3:09.58) in their sights.

"Great training atmosphere," Irwin said. "And when you have those relay teammates, that's the kind of people you want to go into a battle with. I've got their back and they've got my back. There's no better, stronger group to be training with."

Dixon's call-up in the 50 has him sitting 17th, one spot out of making the B Final, heading in. Meanwhile, Buehler just barely squeezed in as the last call-up in the 200 free, despite being 1.49 seconds off the state cut.

"I did the math Saturday night, but I was hesitant to tell anyone," Irwin said. "I'm a mathematician but not an accountant, so man, if I'm off by one... By my math, he was the 32nd person."

State of mind for the Cougars

They're happy to have a chance to make the most of a second chance and there's no better place and time to swim fast.

"There's no pool as nice as the Nat," Irwin said.

Irwin made sure his guys were tapered well enough for sectional but the adrenalin of sectional and the fact most of his swimmers have been through the weekend up there before will help them continue to drop time and rise in the team standings.

"I'm not quite so sure of myself willing to forgo tapering for sectionals," Irwin said. "As for what we have left in the tank, there's emotional energy of, 'Wow, this is what we've been working for and thinking about', and 'We are at the state meet.'

"I know I always feel a sense of awe, both as a swimmer and a coach just walking onto the pool deck at the Nat, guys been there enough that it's a useful sense of awe and not an overwhelming sense of pressure."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Freestyle crew at Bloomington North ready for IHSAA boys swimming meet