Freshman swimmers making impact

Affinity for water is a family tradition for Matt Pettit and Justin Crew.

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer 11:50 PM Thursday, January 12, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Matt Pettit and Justin Crew learned to swim not too long after they learned to walk. Maybe that explains how strong they look so early in their freshman seasons.

Catholic Central’s Pettit, 15, and Shawnee’s Crew, 14, joined the Springfield YMCA SPY swim team when they were 5. Pettit followed in the footsteps of his brother, sister and dad, Dennis, who swam at West Virginia University, while Crew followed his sister Kendra, now a junior and a two-time state qualifier at Shawnee.

“I’ve been around swimming my whole life,” said Pettit, who shot up to 6-foot-5 in the past year with an 8-inch growth spurt. “It’s good exercise. I love being around the water. Just being in the water is a whole different feeling.”

“I couldn’t stand just sitting in the stands and watching (Kendra) all the time,” Crew said. “She’s one of my heroes, along with all the other guys on SPY. I’ve always looked up to them. Now training with them is fun.”

The two are making their own marks this season.

At the Shawnee Invitational on Saturday, Pettit dominated his two individual events, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 23.40 seconds, more than second better than the second-place finisher. He won the 100 backstroke by more than 4 seconds, finishing in 57.47. He also swam the first leg on the winning 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams.

Crew won the 200 freestyle by almost 19 seconds in 1:57.12. He finished second in the 500 freestyle in 5:20.65 and swam the final leg on the winning 400 freestyle relay (3:41.58) and the second-place 200 medley relay (1:54.55).

Both swimmers will compete in the 2012 Southwest Ohio High School Swimming and Diving Classic on Saturday and Sunday.

More than 3,000 swimmers and 120 schools will participate in the event, which features preliminaries at eight different locations and finals at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati.

It’s the first big meet of the season, but Pettit and Crew have eyes on the biggest meet of all.

“This year I just want to make it to state,” Pettit said. “That’s the big one.”

“I took the summer off to play baseball, which I usually do,” Crew said. “I knew when I got back in the water, I had to get back to business and start working. I’m training to go to state and beat all those big guys.”

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