INDIANAPOLIS
Amidst the cheers and the screams of a swim meet, Seymour senior Trevor Layne relishes the silence.
The eerie calmness between the starter saying, “On your marks” and the starting buzzer getting sounded is the most compelling part of the meet while Layne sits on the starting blocks.
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On Saturday afternoon, at the IHSAA boys swimming state meet, Layne experienced that feeling one last time.
Swimming yet another career-best time in the 100-yard breaststroke, Layne finished ninth in the state in the event with a time of 56.78 seconds and more than doubled his effort from a season ago when he finished 18th.
“The most addictive part of this sport is the silence,” he said. “The silence when you’re on the blocks and when you’re underwater, the silence is a really powerful feeling for me. I just try to embrace it as much as I can when I’m on the blocks.”
Perhaps the silence, and the moment of being back at state, got the best of him at the start because Layne was trailing after the first leg of the event. Yet, a strong finish helped push the Owls’ third-best all-time breaststroker to a new career time and a time that would’ve netted him seventh had he qualified for the championship heat.
Even though he fell short of his goal — breaking the school record — and Seymour swim coach Dave Boggs’ goal of him finishing on the podium, Layne was very happy with his performance.
The reason being? He dropped more than four-tenths of a second off his preliminary time of 57.17 from Friday night.
On the second day, many athletes added time to their preliminary marks, but Layne was one of few that put in the extra effort to cut even more time from his already lightning-quick Friday night mark.
“It feels really good now, but yesterday, I was a little upset,” Layne said. “I just missed making top eight, and I had to cope with that. To come back today and drop even more time, it feels good. I didn’t get the school record, but this still feels pretty good.”
Boggs was happy to see Layne improve upon his state preliminary time, mostly because it sticks with the Owls’ goals of always being faster on the second day.
“That’s always our goal,” Boggs said. “It doesn’t always happen, but we’ve always prided ourselves in being faster on the second day. We’re always trying to find some more ways to cut time.”
After being upset with his Friday swim, Layne said he had to block out his disappointment so he could do even better Saturday.
“I just had to go in with the mindset of being the best I can be and just make sure nothing changes,” he said. “I could’ve gotten seventh, but it doesn’t work like that.”