Carroll swimmer's long-term goal - blow the competition out of the water
By Jennifer Archibald

Tough competitor Brock Richardson is a freshman on the Carroll High School swim team and has already broken one school record. He is pictured above in the 200 IM. Photo by Kyra Edging

Carroll swimmer Brock Richardson is only a freshman, but he's amassed 21 first place finishes this season and has broken one

school record. At the conference meet, he won both of his individual events (200 and 500 freestyle) and one of his two relays, the 400 free.

He didn't even swim the 500 free for the first few meets this year, but it has become his strongest event. He broke the school record in January, with a time of 5:33.78. The previous record, 5:35.77, was set by Ryan Allen in 1996.

As an eighth grader, Brock broke seven school records - five individual and two relay. The individual events were the 50, 100, 200 and 400 freestyle, and the 100 individual medley, and the two relays were the 200 and 400 freestyle. He broke most of those records the first time he swam them. Two of the records, for the 50 and 200, hadn't been broken since 1973.

Brock said his high school goals are just to get stronger and better. He's working on improving his own record in the 500 free. Another goal is bettering his time in the 200 free. He's now just five seconds away from the school record.

Richardson

He'll swim the 500 and 200 free in the sectional trials this week. He's currently seeded at seventh place in both events, which is notable for a freshman. The top 6 places at the trials go on to the sectional finals, and places 7-12 make it to the consolation round. The sectional will be held at West Lafayette High School.

"Brock is already the best distance swimmer that I've ever coached," said head coach Roger Nelson. "His stroke technique is something I try and teach the other swimmers on the team, but in his case, his ability might be something he was born with. He comes from a family of swimmers."

"Brock does everything that is asked of him in practice because he knows that it can only make him better," the coach continued. "Now that he's broken the 500 freestyle record, there are a few others that he'd like to conquer also. During the off-season, I hope to get Brock more involved with weight training. I cannot imagine his potential when he gets a little muscle on him."

To help keep himself in shape, Richardson runs in the summer and will run in track this spring. He plans to be in cross country in the fall.

His parents, Jeff and Carla Richardson, said Brock has been swimming since he was three, and swimming competitively since he was five.

Both his parents were on the swim team in high school. Carla later was junior high swim coach at Carroll, and Jeff coached the high school boys' team. Carla has also given swim lessons, and she taught Brock to swim.

Brock has two older brothers and two younger brothers. The two older siblings, Grant and Chase, are in college now, but still help out at Carroll as assistant coaches. Carla also fills in as needed. Grant and Chase were both on record-setting Carroll relay teams in junior high, but Brock broke Grant's 400 free relay record last year.

Another record that Brock broke in junior high, the 50 freestyle, had been held by Mark Meyer, who is now one of Brock's assistant coaches.

"Brock is a low key kid with a lot of natural talent," Meyer said. "He pushes himself and is a hard worker."

Brock gives a lot of credit to his parents, for supporting him and coming to all his meets.

His accomplishments as a swimmer are especially noteworthy considering that he broke his neck in a diving accident in sixth grade. His mother said the kids were diving off the blocks at school, practicing starts. She said Brock dove in and collided head to head with someone in the water.

"He had surgery and wore a collar for six weeks," she said.

It only temporarily kept him from swimming. The next year he signed up for the junior high swim team, and he continues to excel in a sport he loves.