CHAMPAIGN — Cole Grimes was primed for a strong follow-up to his first-ever individual state qualification.
As a Centennial junior in 2019, Grimes’ 100-yard backstroke time of 52.87 seconds advanced him from the local sectional into the next week’s state meet.
With Grimes possessing one more year of high school eligibility, he could aim higher than his eventual 36th-place state showing when his senior season sectional rolled around.
“Over the summer, I gained 25 pounds,” Grimes said. “So I’m bigger, I’m faster (and) I’m stronger than I was. I feel like I can put up a really competitive, good time.”
But Grimes was thrown a curveball when, on Dec. 26, he suffered a broken right hand while practicing his backstroke underwater.
That he still harbors a legitimate chance to qualify for state once more — when he and his Centennial teammates hit Unit 4 Pool for Saturday’s Centennial Sectional — is something that seemed inconceivable in the moments immediately after Grimes’ injury.
“I’m just blessed to be able to swim again because, at first, the doctors said they didn’t think I could swim at state or sectionals,” Grimes said. “But we were just persistent, and we were taking care of it so well.”
Grimes wasn’t sure as of Monday what events he’d suit up for in his last sectional meet, not even a month removed from being officially cleared to resume competitive activity in all strokes.
Getting to this point began with Grimes emerging from the water one day after Christmas and seeing one finger on his right hand bent gruesomely over top of another, the result of blindly smacking the wall while finishing a set.
“School was super hard,” Grimes said. “I couldn’t eat (easily). It was so bad. But I’m OK now.”
Grimes’ initial worry wasn’t for his eventual sectional status, but instead what his absence would mean to the team.
“We were getting into the thick of dual meet after dual meet after dual meet,” Grimes said. “I thought about just stopping, honestly. I think, probably twice, I thought about just starting over (and) healing.”
At the encouragement of Centennial coach Courtney Louret and his teammates, Grimes continued planning for a return to the pool.
That initially meant plenty of cardio and abdominal workouts, as well as exercises on a stationary bike. Even when Grimes still was in a cast, he’d place an ice bag around his right hand just so he could keep his legs strong by kicking in the water.
“I would just kick for an hour,” Grimes said. “I did that every day for probably 4 1 / 2 weeks.”
Grimes said he was cleared to get the rest of his body back in the water roughly one month after his initial injury, though he had to tape the fingers together on his right hand for safety.
“Then I was just getting into shape,” Grimes said. “I was just doing thousands and thousands and thousands of yards just to get my swimming stamina back.”
Early results weren’t the best for Grimes. He felt unimpressed by his Big 12 Conference efforts in early February, taking third in the 100 backstroke in 56.56 seconds and 10th in the 200 freestyle in 1 minute, 58.01 seconds.
“Then, probably a day after, something just clicked, I guess,” Grimes said, “and then it just all came back.”
Grimes presently is upbeat as ever, even if Saturday’s swimming action could be his last at the prep level.
“This weekend is coming so slow,” he said. “All of us are so hyped to swim against all of the other teams and guys. We can’t wait.”
If Grimes makes the trip to Evanston next week for the state meet — in an individual event or relay — it’ll mean he’s successfully pulled off a speedy and impressive comeback from an injury that initially appeared season-ending.
“It was hard,” Grimes said. “But ...it’s built me up to be a better swimmer now. It was a blessing and curse.”
Top of the charts
Saturday’s Centennial Sectional is the only local boys’ swimming and diving postseason event in which athletes can qualify for the following week’s state meet. Here’s a look at the top result from each event at last season’s area sectional:
200-yard medley relay: 1:39.87 (Champaign Central’s Mitchell Devine, Justin To, Ryan Wierschem, Nik Johnson)
200-yard freestyle relay: 1:30.82 (Champaign Central’s Nik Johnson, Davin Yoo, Justin To, Ryan Wierschem)
400-yard freestyle relay: 3:16.46 (Chatham Glenwood’s Nathan True, Adam Matos, Graham Turk, Evan Moulton)
200-yard freestyle: 1:43.58 (Buffalo Tri-City’s Michael Kindel)
200-yard individual medley: 1:55.43 (Chatham Glenwood’s Evan Moulton)
50-yard freestyle: 22.27 (Champaign Central’s Nik Johnson)
Diving: 486.30 (Centennial’s Damien McMullen)
100-yard butterfly: 51.23 (Uni High’s Andrew Lin)
100-yard freestyle: 47.95 (Chatham Glenwood’s Evan Moulton)
500-yard freestyle: 4:45.72 (Buffalo Tri-City’s Michael Kindel)
100-yard backstroke: 52.16 (Uni High’s Andrew Lin)
100-yard breaststroke: 59.96 (Sullivan’s Brodie Goss)
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Grimes back up to speed after hand injury - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette
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