WESTMONT — Schlarman Academy senior Charles Medlin was just happy to be at the IHSA state swimming meet last year.
This year, he is not as intimidated about going to the FMC Natatorium to face off with the best in the state.
“This year, I know a little bit about what I am doing,” Medlin said. “Last year was my first time there and I didn’t know about the processes of getting into the pool. But now that I have swum in this pool a couple of times, it is is just like any pool I swam in. I am pretty excited about this time and I am going to try my best.”
Medlin was able to take fourth in the 50-yard freestyle prelims and will battle for the state title today. He finished 10th in the 100 prelim and will participate in a swim-off today in that event.
Going to the state finals completes a strong senior year for Medlin. He signed a letter of intent to go to the University of Illinois-Chicago and instead of being a team of one, he was part of a team of three.
“It was cool to have underclassmen there so I can have someone else to cheer for and some more to represent other than myself,” Medlin said. “It is nice to know that after I graduate, I will have swimmers after me, so starting a legacy like that is pretty cool.”
He also set a meet record in sectional action in Champaign last week in the 100-yard freestyle and also won the 50 freestyle.
“The sectional was a fun meet for me and I came in as the top seed in the 50 and the 100, so I wasn’t worried about the times that much, but my main goals was to have fun and enjoy my sectional,” Medlin said. “I train at the pool every Wednesday and Thursday so it was a familiar environment and my goal was to have fun. The pool record was a side effect of that. This weekend at state is the time where I have to get the right mindset going and focus on what I have to do right to perform here.”
While Medlin swims club tournaments for a team in Champaign, he never forgets his start at the Danville YMCA pool.
The Danville YMCA pool was where most of my career was at,” Medlin said. The way that we practice for two of us on Schlarman is after we moved teams to Champaign, we make a commute every night to swim club. The IHSA allows you to compete in the postseason independently as a team without doing any preseason meets as long as you don’t represent your team before the sectional. The Danville YMCA still has a team and they are gracious when we have to stay in town and practice. I have to thank the Danville YMCA for building me into the swimmer than I am today and being courteous for us to staying there.
“I had a coach at the Danville YMCA who was influential to me and a lot of swimmers and she took a different job at a Y some hours away.. At this point, I had friends on the Champaign team and I was ready for that next level. I am happy with the switch. I think it has helped in my journey instead of putting it in a different path.”
Medlin represents a few swimmers from the area that went up this weekend to face a single-class field that is mostly made up of swimmers from the Chicago area.
“The single-class system is cool,” Medlin said. “You are against everyone, but what makes it fun is that you know everyone. There is no division, so you know all of the top swimmers. It is cool to see a bunch of the guys from downstate to go to the Chicago area because it is rare to see downstate swimmers ranked as high as the guys in our sectional.”