NP’s Young eager to continue swimming career

Nick Young of North Putnam signs his national letter-of-intent to swim for Wabash College. He is flanked by his parents (Dana and Kevin). Also witnessing the signature were (back, from left) NP assistant principal Levi Yowell, NP swimming coach Mallory Carver and NP principal Jason Chew.

Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

ROACHDALE – North Putnam senior Nick Young had narrowed his college choices down to Purdue and Wabash.

Both schools offered good programs in mathematics and accounting, his chosen fields of study, and were roughly the same cost-wise. The tiebreaker was that he wanted to continue his swimming career. As a result, he signed a national letter-of-intent last week to attend Wabash and compete for the Little Giants in the pool.

This winter, Young had an outstanding sectional meet – finishing fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.34 and also placing sixth in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:03.56.

Young won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.60 in the Western Indiana Conference meet, and placed second in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:04.58.

His path to college swimming began in his middle schools days, briefly interrupted by an exploration of another sport.

“I started swimming in sixth grade,” he said. “In seventh grade, I tried wrestling but that wasn’t fun for me so I went back to swimming in eighth grade and I’ve stuck with it since then. It’s been an incredible experience for me.”

Young likes the companionship of swimming.

Nick Young shows off a ribbon he won last season for North Putnam.

Contributed photo

“When you’re up there on the blocks and everybody else is cheering for you,” he said. “You’re not really competing against the other people, but you’re competing against the clock. Everybody is going for his personal best every time.”

Mallory Carver recently completed her first year as the Cougars’ head coach, and was impressed with Young’s perseverance in coming back from illness.

Young missed his junior year due to a nagging bout with walking pneumonia, accompanied by an even more rare condition of histoplasmosis that only affects one in 20 people.

“This season for him was kind of like a recovery season,” she said. “He re-broke records that he had set in his sophomore year, and honestly we didn’t know if he could do that or not coming off his illness. His hard work over the summer and dedication just pushed him forward.”

Young knew that he needed to do additional work to make up for missing last year, so he began swimming with the Danville Heat club team in Hendricks County.

“I was still in the recovery stage when I went to swim with the club team last summer,” he said. “When the school season started, I was really working hard on my endurance. It was a lot better after swimming with the Danville Heat.”

Besides Young’s skills in the pool, Carver was also pleased with his leadership ability with the male team members as she was becoming acclimated to her first head coaching position.

“He took the lead and got the team where it needed it to be, where I wasn’t entirely sure coming in as a new coach how to do that,” she said. “It was tougher with the boys; he really knew what they needed and he really helped them to adapt. That was much appreciated.”

She predicts Young will succeed at Wabash.

“I think he’ll do pretty well,” she said. “Especially under the guidance of an experienced coach who can help him to improve at that level.”

Young will be the second North Putnam grad on the Little Giants’ team next year, as former Cougar standout Dane Gray will be a senior on the squad.

Between now and the start of college, Young plans to continue swimming with the Danville club team.