Junior Jake Schmitz was able to beat the difficult goal of swimming sub minute in a 100 freestyle this season because of an unlikely offseason surgery.
Schmitz has had a three-inch difference in his arms since birth, which he got fixed with an arm extension last February. This involved breaking his arm and inserting a rod and magnet to extend it by just millimeters a day for a couple of months.
“World’s most painful surgery, though it does cut a lot of time when you don’t have a three inch wingspan difference,” Schmitz said. “That’s pretty helpful. You’re not off balance, and you can pull so much more water when you have an extra three inches of reach.”
The boys’ swimming team, which consists of three graduating seniors and one junior, went to state on Feb. 21 with the smallest team they’ve had in over four years.
“What’s notable about our state presence is that we have a team of four, and they all got into state,” Coach Dustin Burgardt said. “In the past I’ve taken up to 17 athletes for the state meet, so this was a little bit less than what I consider normal, but it was not less fun. It was great.”
Burgardt said that while the team didn’t make finals, they met their best time.
“In order to make points, you have to be in the top 16 of the meet,” Burgardt said. “We didn’t place it at the [state] meet, but we met our best time as a team. We had three athletes’ best splits in that relay to reach 18th place.”
The team brought the 200 freestyle relay to state, achieving a time of 1:40.62 and placing 20th. In the 400 freestyle relay they placed 18th with a time of 3:45.93.
“We got into the best shape of our lives [for state],” Burgardt said. “We feel like going up there and racing and having fun with the best that we can do with no expectations about where we want to be compared to other people.”
Senior Logan Fairclough said he enjoyed his time on the team despite the small numbers.
“The four of us hang out all the time after school,” Fairclough said. “It’s just like another day.”
Central and South have a combined swim team. While the schools compete separately at meets, they travel together and practice at the South pool.
“[Swim] made me see that we don’t have to be rivals with South,” Fairclough said. “We can get along even though we play each other in football every year.”
Burgardt said that with the majority of the team graduating this year, next season will look different.
“We should see that we have a changing of the guard,” Burgardt said. “Anyone that would come out for swimming next year probably has a pretty good chance of getting a varsity letter and becoming a part of our varsity competition.”
