NEW PALESTINE — Finishing 11th in the state is more than enough to celebrate.
Knowing the journey taken by New Palestine junior Colin Stacey to get there will add more hoopla to commemorate the accomplishment.
A sectional champion and regional runner-up, Stacey qualified for the 2019 IHSAA Boys Swimming/Diving Championships. In 15th place after preliminaries in the 1-meter diving competition, Stacey moved his way up to finish 11th.
At the sectional, hosted by New Palestine, Stacey won by nearly 100 points. At the regional, he placed second, trailing only Cascade’s Brendan Trent, who went on to finish fifth at the state meet.
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That’s all great stuff, but what Stacey went through to get to the pinnacle of Indiana high school competitions is bigger than any individual hardware and accolades that could be accrued on the way.
When Stacey stepped onto the board for the first of 11 dives at the New Palestine Sectional, it was his first major competition since his freshman season.
Following his high school rookie year, where he finished third in the sectional and 15th (second among freshmen) at the regional, Stacey suffered a broken back over the summer working out on a trampoline at his swim club. He said he landed on his rear end in the pike position. Initially, he thought it was a muscle pull.
“As I continued to do more, it got to be too much,” he said.
He was told overworking and a growth spurt that saw him shoot up from 5-foot-7 to 5-10 may have led to his injury.
Two fractured vertebrae prevented the Dragons diver from doing anything. He wore a back brace 24 hours, seven days a week for six months, only taking it off to shower.
New Palestine head coach Steve Maxwell said it looked like Stacey was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
And, it was awful to wear, too.
“I tried to bring in pillows during the day to relax it, but it was not comfortable,” Stacey said.
After half a year of wearing a brace, it was time to get back on the board and in the pool. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Just when Stacey was about to make his great comeback, there was a setback.
He was released to prepare for his junior campaign, but he stressed the fractures while practicing dives, putting his return to the pool further away than anticipated.
“It was very difficult,” Stacey said. “There was always like a constant dull pain and my mental state had deteriorated. But, I had doctors and physical therapists help me through that.”
Another key during his recovery was still remaining a part of the team. Having Stacey around was like having another diving coach on board. He mentored younger divers while he was out.
“As a coach, it’s hard to see a competitor on the sidelines,” New Palestine diving coach Jason Tillage said. “He helped coach his teammates and he was there at the pool every day.
“I talked with him about staying mentally into the sport, staying positive and at some point he would be back and everything would be okay.”
Tillage would realize later his star diver was more than just OK.
“He came back better than he was when he left,” Tillage said.
Finally, with the regular season all but over, he was released to do limited workouts. One week before the sectional, he was released to do a full practice.
With Stacey’s limited work during the regular season, New Palestine had to request a medical waiver from the IHSAA to compete in the sectional. Some of the dives he would perform in the meet he hadn’t been able to practice.
“His performances at the end of this year were pretty amazing for a guy that hadn’t been able to train,” Maxwell said.
That included his final dive of the sectional meet, a front triple somersault. “It’s not a rare dive, but it’s not a normal high school dive,” Maxwell said. “It hadn’t been done in this pool.”
He nailed it.
“It was great just to see that smile on his face,” Tillage said. “Once he got on that board, I knew he was going to go after it.”
With that success, Stacey realized he was back.
“I didn’t know if I would be able to come back at all this season,” he said. “Thankfully, I healed quick enough to do all of my dives. It was a relief. I loved seeing everyone in the stands, again.”
The nervousness was now gone. The doubt whether he could compete again was also gone. What had returned was the smile on his face and the cheer of the fans.
“I’m competing again," he said, showing that smile that hadn’t been there for such a long time. "I got in the mindset, ‘Here we go.’”
Here we go, all right, all the way to the state meet.
