Marcus Smith swam in the 10U Central Zone Championships Thursday. (Photos provided)

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wisc. – One area swimmer has been making waves in and around Indiana, and got to swim on a pretty big stage this week.

Marcus Smith

Marcus Smith, a 10-year-old swimming with the Tippecanoe Valley Aquatics Club, has done well enough to qualify for the Central Zone Swimming Championships that are being held this week in Pleasant Prairie, near the Wisconsin-Illinois border near Kenosha.

Smith has been swimming the backstroke as part of the escalating circuit, both the 50 and 100 meter varieties. His time of 37.24 set on July 28 at the Indiana State tourney in heat swims qualified him in the 50-meter backstroke in Wisconsin as the eight-seed. His championship time of 38.05 landed him third at State the same weekend in Indianapolis. Smith also swam the 100-meter backstroke and the 50-meter butterfly at State.

A spot in the Central Zone event is a rare one for a TVAC swimmer, one which the club is relishing. Per club coach Tom Alexander, Smith is the first male swimmer to make the Zone championships in at least two decades. The club itself has seen swimmers flourish recently, with 14 of its 21 members making some level of a championship meet. Smith is the highest elevated in his conquest of Wisconsin.

“For our little program, we’re doing just great,” Alexander said via phone Thursday afternoon from the RecPlex swim facility at Pleasant Prairie. “We might not have the numbers in bodies, but we have the skill and that shows with what Marcus has been able to do both in training and in meets like this.”

Thursday, Smith wasn’t able to capitalize on his tremendous run at State and fell back to 19th in the 50-meter backstroke, swimming 38.61, well off his seed time. While the finish wasn’t what the Smith team and the Club were hoping, it does propel the 10-year-old into the offseason with something to build upon.

“We’re just so proud, so excited,” said Scott Smith, proud papa. “Last year, he got onto the podium at State for the first time as a nine-year-old. We asked him of his next goal, he said, ‘Zone.’ He broke his collarbone this past spring and was still able to make it back and swim here. I’m just proud. I don’t know what else to say about it.”

Smith, who will be a fifth-grader this fall at Akron Elementary, had to qualify into Divisionals, then to State and then qualify into Zone. Alexander, who has overseen the TVAC since 2003, said Smith’s talent is off the charts, which bodes well for his growth in and out of the pool.

“His strength is underwater,” Alexander said. “His butterfly kick is phenomenal, he can do it well for 25 yards. That gives him an edge. Marcus is also very athletic and is mature for his age. You either have it or you don’t, and he has it. The talent he has and the ability to use his talents in the pool is something you just can’t teach, especially at that age.”

Smith’s club season comes to a close with Thursday’s swim, which now leads into the club offseason training ahead of preparations for the 2018 club season.