CHARLOTTESVILLE — As a freshman at New Castle High School, Gus Upchurch joined the swimming team because some of his friends convinced him to join, and because he had nothing else going on at the time.
Fast forward four years, and Upchurch — now at Eastern Hancock — has set school records, has won sectional titles, and has helped inspire and inject new life into the Royals swimming program.
For those reasons, and more, he is the 2024 Daily Reporter Boys Swimming Athlete of the Year.
“It’s huge for the program. Not just the guys but the girls as well. He’s an inspiration for all of them as well as the middle school team. For all of swimming at Eastern Hancock, it’s very exciting. There’s a lot of kids who want to stay in the pool now and swim year-round,” Eastern Hancock head coach Mike Dolence said. “A lot of that can be attributed to Gus, and them getting to see that even though we’re a small school we can compete. Our kids can see it now and think ‘Wow, it is possible.’ They ask how Gus did it and how it was possible, and I just tell them you have to go back two or three years. Everything builds on itself.”
Upchurch’s success stems from setting goals.
Two or three years ago, the goals might have been smaller, but they all led to his record-setting senior season. That was something Dolence saw in Upchurch in his first season with the team.
“He set his goals, that’s just the guy he is. He has this long-term outlook and just set goals for certain points. He wanted to be at this spot his senior year, he wanted to swim in college, and he wanted to earn scholarships,” Dolence said. “He looked at his high school career like it was the Tour de France with stages. The goal is to win the entire race but you have all these goals along the way that you’re making sure you’re checking off. It was very much like that where he was progressing and continuing to add speed. He set goals that weren’t easy to get to but also weren’t unattainable.”
Upchurch joined the Eastern Hancock team in 2023 after transferring in from New Castle, but due to transfer stipulations could only compete in exhibitions and with the junior varsity team.
“Academically I thought Eastern Hancock was a better fit for me. I was getting a bit lazy at school, so I wanted a place that I felt like I could succeed more and Eastern was that place,” Upchurch said. “The swim team was a lot smaller than at New Castle, but it was still a lot of fun.”
From the jump, Dolence, and everyone around the Eastern Hancock program, saw the potential Upchurch had, and the senior swimmer made sure that potential didn’t go to waste.
With hard work and those goals that he had set in mind, Upchurch swam the best season in school history, capped off by being the first Eastern Hancock boys swimmer to reach the state finals.
He did so by winning both the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke at the New Palestine Sectional.
In each event, he had to shave off time.
“I knew before the season started that state would be possible but as we got closer and closer to sectional I wasn’t sure. I really didn’t expect it to happen,” Upchurch said. “After prelims, I was really not in a great mental state because my times were not where I wanted them to be. I wasn’t expecting to drop that much time.”
In the 500 freestyle final, he cut nearly 18 seconds off of his prelim time for a school record 4:44.84. Over the first 200 yards of the race he set the Eastern Hancock 200 free record as well.
In the 100 backstroke he came in seeded fifth, but trimmed off three seconds from his prelim time to win with a time of 53.87 seconds.
“Over the summer he dropped some incredible time. I knew he could swim a sectional winning time because he had done so over the summer,” Dolence said. “It was just a matter of getting back there. A lot of that is on him. He’s the one who showed up and worked every day.”
At the state finals, Upchurch dealt with an illness that impacted both of his races. He placed 28th in the 500 free and 31st in the 100 backstroke.
But while the finishes weren’t what Upchurch was hoping for, he realizes how special just getting to compete at the IU Natatorium was.
“It was great getting to go to state. Four years ago as a freshman that was something I never would’ve even thought was possible. The fact that it was, was very exciting,” Upchurch said. “It meant a lot to the program, to me, and to the coaches. It was great to see how excited everyone was. I hope it opened the eyes of other people that it is possible at a small school. Things like that can happen.”
The journey to get there in just a four-year stretch comes from Upchurch’s drive and ability to work hard.
“It was all about the time in the water. I rarely took days off. The maximum time I had off during the four years was one week,” Upchurch said. “It was just constant time in the water, working and trying to get faster.”
For somebody who was so focused on setting goals, Upchurch will be the first to tell you he reached all of those marks this season.
“Absolutely, 100 percent,” he said. “I think I was just about where I wanted to be this year.”
But while his high school swimming career is over and his high school goals have been met, he has new goals set for the next step in his athletic career.
Upchurch is committed to swim at Adelphi University, a Division II school in New York where he hopes to build off of the success he found this season.
“Going into college my goals are obviously to compete at the NCAAs,” Upchurch said. “I just want to continue to get faster and to continue to cut time.”
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The Daily Reporter
2024 All-Hancock County
Boys Swimming and Diving Team
Eastern Hancock: Kyle Messer, Gus Upchurch
Greenfield-Central: Jon Grimes, Gabe Hall, Elijah Johnson, Isaac Johnson, Colten Mayberry, Aiden Michael, Tyler Mullen, Mason Stoughton, Evan Teskey
Mt. Vernon: Ryland Booher, Daniel Harter, Charlie Johnson, Ethan Lear, Adison Mayes, Eli Webster
New Palestine: Luke Appleby, Reese Cox, Liam Fuller, Blake Hurst, Aidan Kingery, Dawson Lynch, Jake Myers, Cade Rodgers, Aidan Stephens, Dontae Thompson, Ashton Turner, James Watson
Swimmer of the Year: Gus Upchurch, Eastern Hancock
Coach of the Year: Chris Kingery, New Palestine
