The success of Josh Barajas may make it seem as if he were born in the pool, but there was a time when the Lake Central senior didn’t know if the sport was for him.
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In fact, Barajas didn’t enjoy swimming when he first started doing so competitively at the age of 7.
Jeff Kilinski, Barajas’ first age-group coach and now the Indians’ coach, was an intimidating presence for a youngster getting his first taste of the sport.
“I remember thinking he was the scariest guy ever,” Barajas said. “He yells a lot, and as a 7-year-old kid, it terrified me that an adult yelled loudly at little kids.”
When Kilinski was hired as Lake Central coach prior to Barajas’ junior season, the news was met with nervousness on the part of Barajas. However, the two have since formed a strong coach-swimmer relationship.
“I really didn’t know what to expect with him coming from age group, but he’s definitely got a whole different style for high school,” Barajas said. “He still yells a lot, but it’s a lot easier to take it as an 18-year-old than it was as a 7-year-old. It’s been a great change, and he’s really helped us improve.”
Barajas made the right decision when he elected to stick with swimming. It has evolved into an important aspect of his life.
He qualified for state in four events last year — 100-yard fly, 200 individual medley, 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle — and will swim collegiately next season at IUPUI.
The improvement under Kilinski was evident at last year’s sectional, particularly in the 200 IM. Barajas finished as the runner-up with a time of 1:53.81, four seconds better than his time from the previous year and more than nine seconds better than his preliminary time.
In addition, he won the sectional title in the 100 fly with a time of 51.41.
Barajas has his sights set on a top-eight finish in this year’s state meet. However, the path to the podium has proved bumpier than originally anticipated, as Barajas has battled lower back pain throughout the season.
“Even as he went through back issues, he still came to every single practice,” Kilinski said. “The kids look up to him; he’s been our leader since he was a freshman.”
Barajas will occasionally sit out practice or cut down on lifting to help ease the pain, but there’s little that could keep him out of the water when it comes time for the sectional meet. He believes his team has the potential to finish in the top 10 at state.
“This week and next week, I’m going to train as hard as I can until we start winding down and resting for sectionals and state,” Barajas said. “A lot of the people in the area didn’t think we were going to have a good team last year, and we proved them wrong.”