At the first home meet of the season, Seymour High School swimmer Dillon Polley was asked to sing the national anthem.
He agreed to do it if his twin brother, Dalton Polley, and Harrison Cottrill could join him.
During that meet and most others this season, the bleachers at the pool were filled with spectators.
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On Saturday, the trio will come together again to sing the national anthem. The number of spectators, however, will be much larger.
Before the Indiana High School Athletic Association Boys Swimming and Diving State Finals kicks off at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, the Polleys and Cottrill will perform their barbershop-style rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“I don’t generally have any stage fright at all,” said Dillon, a senior who will be back at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the fall to begin college. “It’s not something that I deal with, so something like this, it’s just kind of, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ but it’s not nerve-racking. It’s an awesome opportunity.”
Seymour head coach Dave Boggs recently told the boys they were chosen to sing at state.
“We were just at a random practice, and Dave just smiles and says, ‘I think I got you boys a gig,’” Dalton said.
“I thought, ‘Cool, I get to go to the state meet for free,’” Dalton said, smiling. “I’m not really nervous. I think singing with them for the national anthem is really fun.”
The Polleys are involved in choir and musicals at Seymour High School, while Cottrill, a junior, is in band.
Cottrill said Saturday is a good opportunity to share the talent of Seymour musicians with others around the state.
“It gives us a chance to show off what a musical community we are,” he said. “Our band and choir programs, they’ve been pretty successful over the years. It’s just to promote what Seymour is about.”
The diving preliminary round will start at 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by the semifinals. Seymour senior Devin Ramsey, coming off of conference, sectional and regional titles, is a top seed.
The consolation and finals for swimming and diving will start at 1 p.m. The Polleys and Cottrill will kick it off with the national anthem.
“It’s a good combination to show we’re swimmers and it’s kind of what we stand for, but it also kind of shows some pride in our choir teacher, Mr. (Kyle) Karum, because we’re athletic and are musically talented, so we can sing and we can swim,” Dillon said. “It’s a shoutout to both groups.”
All three boys have been to the natatorium before, but not for the state finals.
Dalton said he was there last year at a senior state meet.
“I just remember sitting back and watching Drew Kibler go animal mode on everyone,” he said of the former Carmel High School swimmer who now is swimming for the University of Texas.
Cottrill said the opportunity could lead to other singing gigs for the trio or the barbershop quartet they are in with senior Sam Schmidt.
“I’m hoping this maybe gets us a bid to other stuff, like this could open doors to something,” he said. “It could just all be more swimming stuff, but we’re hoping to grab Sam and maybe sing at all of the basketball stuff and maybe sing at the basketball state championship.”
Seymour hosts the boys basketball sectional, regional and semistate rounds at the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium, while the state finals are at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
So keep an eye out. You just might see — and hear — these singers kicking off games on the court.