By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Hard work, dedication, raw talent.
A lot of variables go into being able to perform at a high level in any sport.
With those three traits already under his belt, past experiences and a more detailed understanding of the sport may have been the two main factors in Mt. Vernon senior Brady Gray’s best season as a Marauder.
The now two-time Daily Reporter Boys Swimming Athlete of the Year earned the 2023 honor by cementing himself as one of the most decorated boys swimming athletes in recent Mt. Vernon history.
“He’s meant a lot to the program whether it’s the school records, placing at state, the conference wins, it just comes down to he’s put in the work and time and has fully dedicated himself to his craft,” Mt. Vernon head coach Brad Grieshop said. “He’s always wanting to learn and improve, and he’s just a student of the sport. He studies the sport, and he knows where other kids are at in his event and what is going on with swimming in the state of Indiana.”
While as a team Mt. Vernon finished just shy of their third straight Hoosier Heritage Conference and sectional titles, Gray took first place in his two individual events at both meets this season — the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races.
“It meant a lot to me. It was a little disappointing to me to not end on another conference and sectional title, but I’m very happy those two happened. The last time they won I was really young, and I had two older brothers that swam for Mt. Vernon, so being able to follow behind them and finally get the program those wins meant a lot to me.”
With his first place finishes at the New Palestine Sectional, Gray advanced to the state championship for his fourth time in four seasons, and put together his best marks at the event. He placed 11th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.28 seconds, and 12th in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.33 seconds. Both were improvements from his junior year, in which he placed 24th in both events.
“He had great role models coming through our program. We could go down the list of all the great seniors that we’ve had, so he’s had no shortage of great examples. This year he just understood what that all was,” Grieshop said. “Last year was his first year in the role where all the eyes were on him, and it seemed like everybody was always wondering ‘What’s Brady doing?’ He understood that this year and was more comfortable in that role. It was just taking lessons from what he learned from past leaders, learned from his parents, and then what we’ve worked on here. He just put it all together and did great.”
Along with his individual finishes, Gray competed as a member of the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams. The 200 free team placed 19th at state, and the 400 free placed 20th to round out a season in which Gray saw improvement in all four of his events.
“I felt it went very well this year,” Gray said. “I was able to improve in just about every way, so I was very pleased.”
An athlete driven by numbers, Gray credits those improvements to being able to take into account what other swimmers are doing while recognizing the times that he needs to swim to reach the next best person.
“I’ve definitely become more aware of what I’m doing and what my strengths are. Then, just seeing what the best swimmers are doing and how I can model after that but also swim to what my strengths are,” Gray said. “I’m very hyper-competitive, but I also have a great memory. Times just stick like crazy. I could probably tell you every state record, national record, and our high school records. Knowing numbers has always come easy to me, so I’m just always looking ahead to who’s a little bit ahead of me and what they’re doing.”
Helping him get to that point of understanding was Grieshop, who said the focus over the past two seasons has been more centered on after-race metrics.
“He’s improved his understanding of the sport in terms of the race analysis aspect of it. We’ve really started to talk about that stuff over the last two years,” Grieshop said. “Going from a young swimmer where we’re talking about the technique you need to learn, it’s now adding in that race analytics to it all. That’s been the biggest change for him over the years.”
While that played a big role in the season that Gray had, the experience of being a four-time state swimmer can’t be understated.
“The dedication and hard work had to be there, but it was really that understanding of the sport and what it was like to go from a sectional swim where he was the heavy favorite to being seeded in the 20s at state in both events as a junior. This year he was seeded no lower than 17th, so he knew that exception this time and understood what it took to place at a state meet,” Grieshop said. “In the last two years, he’s just had a lot of growth and understanding about all of that and was able to put it together for a phenomenal year.”
Add all of that to the work that Gray puts into the sport, and you get a season with 11th and 12th place state finishes, first-place conference and sectional finishes and three new school records, the 200 free (1:45.95), 100 free (47.10) and 50 free (21.03).
“I’ve probably missed like 15 practices since seventh grade, and that’s with mornings and afternoons every single day,” Gray said. “I just don’t even give myself the option, I just show up every single day and I give it my best.”
