The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Riverside swimmer won’t be deterred
Marshall anxious to shed walking boot, return to state-level form
Charles Marshall has always had a unique outlook on swimming, in part because of the journey he has undertaken in the sport.
Ideally, that journey would have included a tuneup dual Dec. 5 at Hawken as the Viking Invitational looms Dec. 9. Sometimes, though, the journey is far from ideal.
For the most successful current boys swimmer from a Lake County high school, there is a detour from ideal.
But the Riverside standout junior is determined to render it temporary and keep his unique narrative on the upswing.
Marshall was on crutches with a walking boot on his right foot Dec. 5 after an accidental fall at home. The returning Division I state qualifier in 100-yard backstroke and on the Beavers’ vaunted 200 freestyle relay will be in a boot for three to six weeks. But he is hopeful to be back in the pool by mid-to-late January and make another charge toward Canton.
“It’s definitely kind of frustrating to see your team be in the water and not be able to be with them,” Marshall said.
“But I came here, and I’m cheering them on. I’m just happy for them and I’m willing to help them in any way I can possible.
“But I can assure you I will be at the state meet swimming this year.”
Given how he got to this point, don’t put it past him.
In a sport in which many of its highest-caliber performers are in the pool competing barely out of water wings, Marshall wasn’t quite along those lines.
He recounted how his father would take he and his brother to the beach, but the itch to take up swimming as a full-time venture didn’t come until he was in
fifth grade. Until then, football, basketball and baseball — the “regular sports” as Marshall jokes — were more on his radar.
“I was getting antsy to kind of compete and do something,” Marshall said. “So I kind of turned to swimming. I loved it so much, and I did it every day.
“I just started talking to lifeguards out (at the Perry Outdoor Y). I was trying to be coached by anybody I could. I was a sponge trying to soak up information, trying to learn everything I could about the sport. And I’m still like that to this day. I am always learning. I am always willing to be coached. I’m always trying to soak up information and become the fastest I can be.”
One of those lifeguards at the Outdoor Y was former Riverside sprint free stalwart Nate Jerry. Two years ago when Marshall was a freshman, he, Jerry, Colin Shambaugh and Mark Silver earned the school’s first swimming state berth in school history on the boys side in 200 free relay.
Essentially all of the Beavers’ success in the pool before this boys renaissance had been authored on the girls side, paced by former program staples and state qualifiers Michaela HahnLawson, Bettina HahnLawson and Jodi Turk.
“Natural talent can only take you so far in anything. So you’ve got to put in the work and put in the effort and give it everything you have if you want to improve and be the best you can be,”
Marshall said.
“It’s nice to come from a public school and see that you have to earn a lot of things and you have to work hard to get where you want to be. Even if you aren’t given the same things as everyone else, that doesn’t mean you can’t be better than them or the best you can ideally be.”
Marshall had a breakout sophomore campaign, including a strong base in 100 back all the way to a state berth. At the D-I Cleveland State District, he was third in 100 back in a hot field with a 52.50, featuring a 26.99 closer. It marked a 1.58 drop on the latter from his winning swim at the Western Reserve Conference meet the month before and .86 at district the prior winter.
“Once you start to see the results, you get addicted to it and you just want to keep going faster and faster and faster and reset your goals higher and higher and work even harder the next year,” the 2017 first-team News-Herald all-star said.
Which is why Marshall refuses to entertain the thought of being on crutches with a walking boot in early December as a major hindrance.
While far from ideal, it won’t get in the way of his unique outlook on the sport.
“Personally speaking,” Marshall said, “as long as I can come back from this and everything, I think I’m just going to come back even stronger than I was before.”