Greencastle's Nash Firebaugh seeded ninth after state prelims

GHS swimmer Nash Firebaugh checks his time after competing in the 100-yard butterfly event at Friday's IHSAA State Finals.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Swimming is as much a race against the clock and oneself as it is against the others in the pool.

Nash Firebaugh performed well on both fronts Friday night.

Swimming against the state's best competition, his own personal best time and even school history, the Greencastle sophomore posted a 51.32 in the 100 butterfly.

The swim was good enough for the ninth seed in today's finals, as well as a personal and GHS record.

Coach Kent Menzel was pleased with Firebaugh's drop of .27 seconds and how his athlete has continued to drop time as the races have grown in importance.

"It is a very difficult accomplishment as an athlete to make those consistent drops in time from sectional prelims to sectional final and finally to state championship prelims," Menzel said. "Nash did a very good job of preparing himself this week, keeping his composure, staying calm."

Firebaugh also broke the school butterfly record, which was previously held by Andrew Bretscher.

"My whole goal this season was to get that record that Bretscher had, and I finally got it. That felt pretty good," Firebaugh said.

The younger swimmer is keeping good company in Bretscher, who went on to swim collegiately for Auburn and Ohio State.

One goal he narrowly missed was making the championship finals -- only the top eight are eligible to swim for the state title.

"I was ninth, so it was so close," Firebaugh said. "Every year it gets faster and faster, so you just have to deal with it."

Now the attention turns to today's consolation finals. Firebaugh comes in as the top seed in the race, ready to drop more time.

"Again, we're not swimming Saturday to go slower," Menzel said. "We're trying to finish the whole cycle with another time drop and the ability to win that consolation heat."

Firebaugh also hopes to push the school record time even lower.

"I'm trying to break that record again," Firebaugh said. "It's my short term goal for the season right now. It feels great to get a second chance at that."

The IHSAA Swimming and Diving State Finals begin at 1:05 p.m. today at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

At Indiana University Natatorium

Indianapolis

IHSAA Boys' Swimming State Finals Preliminaries

100 Butterfly -- Finalists: 1. Max Irwin (Bloomington North) 49.42, 2. Peter Lyon (Zionsville) 49.53, 3. Aaron Whitaker (Chesterton) 49.82, 4. Nick Wonder (Bloomington South) 50.26, 5. Roman Sarapin (Carmel) 50.56, 6. Rick Kelley (Hamilton Southeastern) 50.60, 7. Rawley Davis (Center Grove) 51.08, 8. Kyle Johnson (Anderson) 51.17. Consolations: 9. Nash Firebaugh (Greencastle) 51.32, 10. Kevin Brinegar (Columbus North) 51.66, 11. Jack Eckert (Center Grove) 51.83, 12. Robbie Veenstra (Homestead) 52.31, 13. Conner Conroy (Columbus North) 52.63, 14. Conner Whitaker (Homestead) 52.65, 15. Nolan Filchak (Bremen) 52.85, 16. William Kelsik (New Castle) 52.87*, 16. Michael Wang (Carmel) 52.87*. Alternate: 18. Luke Lete (New Albany) 52.95.

*-Tied for final spot, swim-off required