Chris Chain didn’t even consider checking the qualifying times for the Speedo Winter Junior National Championships.
Ladd Chain was just like his father. Instead of looking at the short-course (yards) standards for the winter meet, Ladd first examined the long-course (meters) times and saw he had just missed qualifying for the meet.
It wasn’t until a month or two after the Southern Zone Age Group Championships in July in San Antonio, Texas, that Chris and Ladd looked at the short-course qualifying standards and saw they had a trip to Federal Way, Washington, in their future. That’s where Chris Chain will take his son next week so he can compete Thursday through Saturday in the Winter Junior National Championships. Ladd, 16, who is a student at Heritage Academy, will compete in the boys 15- to-18-year-old age division in three events.
“I was surprised and happy,” Ladd Chain said when he learned he had qualified for the winter meet. “I have been following what my dad says. He is my best friend and coach and dad. If he tells me I have to come to the pool on Sunday, I come and work out hard and make all of the sets I can and do whatever I have to.”
Chain will swim in one event each day. He is one of only two swimmers from the state of Mississippi who will compete in the meet. His time of 24.12 (long course) in the 50 freestyle qualified him to participate in the Winter Junior National Championships. His time of 53.26 in the 100 free and 57.76 in the 100 butterfly also helped him qualify to swim in those events in Washington.
“I don’t know if I can get top 16. That is what I am aiming for,” Chain said. “I am just trying to get my times down. I am anxious. I am ready to swim. I am only swimming three things, and I only have one a day, so it is a lot different. At Zone Championships, I would be swimming four events a day.”
Chris Chain, who coaches Ladd on the Swim Columbus travel team at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, said his son holds the Mississippi state records in all three events. He said he, too, was surprised to learn Ladd had qualified to compete in the meet in Washington after not having it on his radar. He said it is a tribute to Ladd’s dedication to the sport that he secured a spot in the meet, even if he didn’t immediately realize it.
“I am feel great,” Chris Chain said. “It is something I did. I went to winter and summer nationals twice when I was 17 and 18. You will have a lot of college scouts at this meet. This is where they pick their next swimmers, from this group.”
Ladd admits he has been “burned out” with swimming several times but he always has come back to the sport. He said he didn’t swim for about six weeks after he broke his wrist and had to miss some of the Heritage Academy baseball season. As a result, he had to wear a cast nearly up to his elbow. Ladd said the time away from the pool made him appreciate how much he loved swimming. He said the next day he was in the pool getting back to what he loves.
Ladd said he is constantly fighting against the clock to improve his times in hopes of attracting the attention of college coaches. He said he wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, who earned a scholarship and swam in college. Ladd isn’t sure if he will get an opportunity to swim in college, but he feels his times, which are among the best in his age group, have him positioned to realize that opportunity. He also has time to mature and get stronger, which he hopes will help him trim his times even more.
“I hope (the college coaches who will be at the Winter Junior National Championships) look at me,” Ladd said. “If I can’t make it to college, I don’t know if I will continue it. … Being an athlete at a Division I college, what is better than that?”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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