INDIANAPOLIS — Even though she dropped a spot from Friday’s state final preliminaries, Greenfield-Central junior swimmer Megan Coffin was happy with where she ended up in Saturday’s consolation final.
Coffin, the lone Hancock County swimmer to compete in the second day of girls state swimming, earned her spot in the consolation final with an 11th-place finish on Friday. Saturday, she finished fourth in the consolation finals and 12th overall in the 100 yard breaststroke, with a time of 1:05.13.
The slight drop in position was OK with Coffin. She was pleased with her performance overall.
“That’s still good for my first time coming back (to Saturday),” Coffin said. “I’m totally excited about it.”
The junior did point to her turns hurting her time a little bit. She said she may adjust her training next year to handle back-to-back days better, too, with a goal of hopefully making the top eight at state.
Now that she knows she can compete at this level, Coffin is even more motivated moving forward.
“I’m really, really pleased for her,” Greenfield-Central coach Emily Logan said. “I think it was a great stepping stone for her and for all of us, really, to come back and get a swim in today. She’s already looking at next year like, ‘I want to be this in both events.’ … I think it’s a really good motivator, and a spark to see that, ‘Hey, I can compete at this level and I can get to that next level.”
The Cougars finished tied for 40th as a team, with the 5 points Coffin earned the team. Carmel won its 33rd straight state title, scoring 413 points to badly outdistance runner-up Franklin Community, which scored 167.5.
Just having a presence in the second day of state, scoring any points at all, is a big boost for the Greenfield-Central girls swim program moving forward. The team has advanced swimmers to state, but struggled to get past the first day and qualify for the finals.
Now that Coffin has broken through for the team, it’s got the entire Cougars group excited for the future.
“They were already doing some talking today, and we’ve got a big group coming in this next year as well,” Logan said. “They’re already plotting, planning, setting goals and what have you, which is great. That’s exactly what you want from a meet like this.”