Keen earns medal

INDIANAPOLIS — James Keen finished runner-up in the second heat of the 100-yard backstroke Friday of the IHSAA Boys Swimming and Diving preliminaries at Indiana University Natatorium.
Then he had to wait to see if his time of 51.37 seconds would earn him a spot in the championship heat today.
Wilson Beckman and Evan Shive turned in faster times during the third heat.
He anxiously stood behind the blocks next to Sok Vormohr, coach Barry Weaver and 2014 JCHS graduate Evan Mathias during the fourth heat.
The times flashed on the scoreboard.
The heat winner, Joe Young? Faster than Keen. The runner-up, Nathaniel Bledsoe? Also faster. Alex King, who finished behind Young and Bledsoe? Again, faster.
Timothy Schoof, the junior from Michigan City who was behind the aforementioned trio?
Slower.
Keen threw up his arms. Mathias and Vormohr did too.
Keen would be a state medalist.
The Jay County High School senior’s time earned him the seventh seed in the championship heat today, guaranteeing that he ends his Patriot swimming career with a medal. The state finals resume at 1 p.m. today.
Vormohr, who competed in the 100 freestyle, placed 30th in the state with his time of 50.02 seconds.
“It feels amazing,” Keen said, unable to shake the smile off his face. “I can’t even put into words right now. I’m flabbergasted. I don’t even know what to say.
“Hard work pays off in the end. Fourteen years I’ve been working at this.”
Friday evening, his dream came to fruition.
After the first 50 yards, Keen led Zionsville sophomore Tyler Harmon by 0.53 seconds. But as he began the second half of the race, Keen was swimming at the lane line, even hitting it on occasion.
When he emerged from the water after making the final turn, Keen was still swimming near the lane line and Harmon had overtaken him. In the final 10 yards, Keen surged, arching his back as he touched the wall in 51.37 seconds, 0.42 seconds behind Harmon.
He looked at the scoreboard and pumped his right fist, pleased with his time.
Then he had to wait.
Keen knows he wasn’t at his best, but it was good enough to secure a medal.
“The whole race wasn’t good,” said Keen, who finished 17th as a junior missing out on the consolation finals.

“My technique wasn’t good. I was just going after it. I was spinning my arms as fast as I could, I was kicking as fast as I could because I really wanted that (top eight).”
It also helped that Fort Wayne Snider’s Jacob Steele, who was seeded sixth, and the eighth-seeded Dalton Mitchell of Terre Haute South Vigo finished 13th and 10th respectively.
Weaver, who will be retiring after his 40th year leading the Patriots, was happy Keen will get to stand on the podium during his final season.
“That’s fantastic,” he said. “Finally saw some big smiles out of him. It’s been a long time coming. Two years ago as a sophomore he came in with some big expectations. Last year just added to the frustration.”
But now Keen has reached his goal of earning hardware. Now he just needs to improve his place.
King, the sixth seed from Evansville Reitz, is ahead of Keen by four-hundredths of a second, and Harmon is the fifth seed. Hamilton Southeastern’s Young and Munster’s Beckman, who were third and second respectively at last year’s state finals, will be seeded first and second Saturday. Young finished with a time of 48.52 seconds to earn the top seed, and Beckman turned in a time of 50.32.
Keen is confident he can break 50 seconds.
“There’s a lot I can improve on (tomorrow) and hopefully I do get that 50 (second mark).”