NEW PALESTINE — After two years of being uncomfortable, Colin Stacey was back in the comfort zone.
The New Palestine senior diver is the Hancock County Co-Swimming Athlete of the Year, sharing the honor with Greenfield-Central sprinter Travis Black (featured in Friday’s Daily Reporter).
“He had that smile, drive and determination,” New Palestine head coach Jason Tillage said. “The look he had on his face, you could tell he was ready to go.”
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A stress fracture in the L5 vertebra took away Stacey’s sophomore year of competition. A setback prior to his junior campaign cost him most all of 2018-19. He came back late in ’19, participating in just enough meets to qualify for the postseason.
Even though he was limited in events and not quite full strength, Stacey won the New Palestine Sectional. It was followed up with a runner-up finish at the Brownsburg Regional and berth in the IHSAA Boys Swimming and Diving State Finals.
He finished 11th in his first trip to the historic IU Natatorium, a pretty impressive performance for someone less than 100 percent.
What could he do if he was completely healthy?
The answer was every bit of what he accomplished in 2019, and more.
When the 2019-20 season started, Stacey was good to go, feeling the best he’s felt since an injury-free freshman season.
“Over the summer I did a ton of rehab work,” he said. “As soon as the season started, I had not had any problems (in my back) for months.
“My goal this year was to place on the podium. Feeling 100 percent, I knew it was something I could achieve now that there were no road blocks.”
Stacey did much more than just reach the podium (top 8) at the state meet. He finished third, best-ever by a New Palestine swimmer/diver at the state finals. He was sixth going into the final round and picked up three spots on his final three dives.
On his way to the state meet, he won both a sectional and regional title.
“He was very focused, goal-driven and had an eye on exactly what he wanted to do,” Tillage said of his star diver. “When he threw a reverse-twister (during the first meet of the season). I knew he was back and I knew he was going to have a good season. Finishing in the Top 8 would be possible.”
Stacey put his toughest dives in during that first meet of the season. Along with the goal of finishing the year on the podium, he was also after a pair of school records.
By the end of the first week of the season, he had them both.
In the opener at Mt. Vernon, Stacey scored 336.5 for a new six-dive school mark. The record was 10 years old and held by Max Scripture, who had a score of 315.60. That happened on a Tuesday (Dec. 10, 2019). On the following Saturday, at the Pendleton Heights Diving Invitational, Stacey broke Scripture’s decade-old 11-dive mark with a score of 494.6.
Stacey owns all school system diving records, as he also owns the scoring mark for the middle school.
He beat his 11-dive record — and had to — to win the Brownsburg Regional.
Stacey scored a 530.45 to become the Dragons’ first-ever regional diving champion, finishing ahead of Danville freshman Holden Higbie, who scored a 525.3.
“At the beginning of the meet, I felt I had a chance to win it. I knew I was going to have to work for it. I saw Holden at the USA Juniors meet and knew he was capable of winning, too,” Stacey said. “I got in a zone and had really good rhythm that meet.”
“He crushed it at regional and he needed to,” Tillage added.
At the state meet, Stacey was in sixth place heading into the final round of dives. He was set up pretty good to get that podium finished, but he wanted more.
Tillage said a lot of divers had already performed their toughest dives in the semifinals, but Stacey had saved his best, and most difficult, for last.
There are three dives in the finals and Stacey had his toughest two to wrap things up.
He went for his highest degree of difficulty dive, an Inward 2 1/2 tuck, and followed it with one of his favorite’s for his finale, the reverse 1 1/2 with a twist.
He nailed them both to move his way up to third place.
“His last three dives had a higher degree of difficulty, so I knew he had a chance to chase some people down,” Tillage said. “I knew when he hit that last dive, he would get third.”
Stacey had a good feeling, too.
“I felt confident I could move up to third,” Stacey added. “At the time, I didn’t know what the others were diving, but I felt confident in myself that I could do it.
After he had gone through so much, it couldn’t have ended any better for the New Palestine standout, headed to continue his academic and athletic career at Texas Christian University. Stacey chose TCU over Indiana and Northwestern.
“It was very satisfying and a good way to finish high school. Getting to the final season was rough, but being able to compete with teammates at all the meets and do the dives I wanted to do was very satisfying.
“It was especially (satisfying) with my injuries, and being able to come back and still have that mindset of wanting to dive and wanting to push myself to be better.”
