Isaiah Sexton likes the way Seymour head swim coach Dave Boggs and assistant Dennis Bowers let swimmers try different events.
Once the swimmers find their niche, the coaches then place them where they feel they can succeed.
In the meet Saturday at Floyd Central, Sexton swam the 200 and 500 freestyles and both relays.
The senior’s career-best in the 500 is 6:21, and with the taper coming up at the end of the season, he is hoping to get below six minutes.
Sexton said you have to pace yourself in the 500.
“At the beginning of every race the dive is always the fastest part,” he said. “Generally, for a 500 what you have to do is slow yourself down so you have more strength in your arms and legs to continue throughout the rest of the race.
“You have to focus on the middle being faster than the beginning and the end. You have to have really fast turns. I like the 200, but whenever you have the 200 and the 500 on the same day it is really tiring.”
He said the coaches always give the swimmers things to work on before the meet.
“When we hit the water before a meet we generally do a 500 or 600 to help the distance people,” Sexton said “Then we do a 200 kick drill. After that we do 50s, and that helps the sprinters, and we work on the turns. We do a wide variety of things during warm ups.”
Sexton said practice is definitely important, and all athletes have to stay positive.
“I have to block out all the noise and focus just on that race,” he said. “What Coach Boggs tells us is ‘don’t overthink things,’ because he said he has had several swimmers that would overthink things and it would make their times slower.”
Focusing on the details leads to success, according to Sexton.
“You have to focus on your dives on the start, and you have to focus on your turns,” Sexton said. “What is important about practice, if you miss two practices or more then that it really slows you down.
Sexton began swimming with the Seymour Swim Club as a nine-year-old, and he recalled swimming during the summers in the pool at Shields Park, and in the winters at Seymour.
“With the high school pool, there’s a lot more turns so a swimmer can get dizzy whenever they do their turns,” Sexton said. “But at the city pool there are less turns so it’s not as dizzy. It’s a lot different because a 50 is just straight down.”
Some of Sexton’s favorite meets are held at the Seymour pool.
“They’re always fun because everybody is on the sidelines and we’re all cheering for everybody and it’s a wonderful time,” Exton said.
Some of Sexton’s best memories in high school have been made with his teammates.
“Hanging out with your friends is always one of the upsides of swimming,” Sexton said. “It helps you get up for the crazy times (6 a.m. practices) that swimming has. It’s always great seeing the other teams at conference and sectional. It’s a fun sport.”
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Name: Isaiah Sexton
School: Seymour High School
Parents: Melinda Sexton, Bob Sexton
Sibling: Mikayla
Sports: swimming 4 years
Organizations: Band (jazz, marching), SyFi Club
Plans after high school: attend Indiana State University
Favorite food: most types of noodles
Favorite TV show: Doctor Who
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