Picture courtesy of Mandy Ediger

No one will ever confuse Josie Ebel’s Salina Central swimming career for a fish-out-of-water story.

From the time she joined a Salina club team at age 9, and even before that splashing around in her back yard, the pool has been both Ebel’s obsession and her happy place.

“I’d honestly say I fell in love with it right away,” Ebel said last week following her final home meet at the Salina South Natatorium. “All the sports I did beforehand were very team-related and it would kind of bother me when other people wouldn’t put in the most effort.”

“So, I liked when I could come to swimming — and yes, we have our relays, which are definitely team-related — but I was able to work on my individual races. I was controlling how much effort that was put in.”

That effort has paid off for in spades for Ebel, who will leave Central this month with six school records out of the eight individual high school events. She wraps up her career with the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Division II meet Thursday and then the Class 5-1A state championships May 22-23 in Lenexa.

Dawn Sheforgen, who coaches both Salina Central and Salina South’s teams and also worked with Ebel at the club level, marvels at the progress she has made from the early days.

“I was her first coach when she started nine years ago, so I’ve seen her through all the things, I guess,” Sheforgen said. “But she’s done so much work outside of that, obviously, as she continued to grow. She just loves swimming, being in the water, and you just see it on her face, in her smile.”

Not only does Ebel own the six school records — all four freestyles, the 100-yard butterfly and 200 individual medley. She also posted a state qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke this spring the only time she has raced in that event.

“Throughout the four years I had done every race except the 100 breast, so going into the season I wanted to do that at least once so I can say I’ve done all eight high school events,” Ebel said who tried the 100 backstroke earlier in her career but not this season. “Qualifying was just a miracle.”

“I don’t know where it came from, but it was super cool to be able to do it. It has always been my weaker stroke, so I never focused on it.”

Ebel’s early focus this season was on the individual medley and adding it to her school record resume. She finally got it with a time of 2 minutes, 21.26 seconds, beating Zoe Burmaster’s five-year-old mark by better than a half second.

Although she met the qualifying standard in all seven races, Ebel is limited to two individual events at state. Her plan is to swim the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle.

“I enjoyed both of those the most, but I would also say that they are my strongest races as well,” Ebel said. “I definitely look at other times just to see if I have a chance of placing and what the competition will be, but I also consider how I feel.”

Although she had yet to match any of her previous record times this season, Ebel said her training is designed for her to peak in the final two meets. Her 100 fly best of 59.66 seconds and 200 free mark of 2:00.21 both came last year, though she posted season bests in both at the final home meet.

Ebel first saw her name on the Central record board at the South pool as a sophomore in the 50 and 500 freestyle, adding the 100 and 200 free plus the 100 butterfly last year. Her 2024 mark of 5:40.20 in the 500 free still stands, but she posted a new record of 25.37 in the 50 free last year.

She also broke the 100 free record twice with a best of 55.69 seconds and did the same in the 200 free and the butterfly.

In so doing, Ebel already has surpassed the goals she brought with her to high school four years ago.

“Coming into my freshman season, I told coach Dawn that I wanted to graduate with having all four freestyle records,” she recalled. “That was my goal when I first started.”

As the season winds down, Ebel now is laser focused on her two state events.

“Timewise, I definitely want to see my 200 free go under that two-minute mark,” she said. “I haven’t done it yet, but I’m telling myself that I can, and I’m going to get it in my head so that hopefully I’ll swim it.”

“I would like to place in that at state and go sub-two (minutes), and then for the 100 fly I haven’t hit my 59 that I went last year when I broke the record. I haven’t hit it since that meet, so I’d really like to be able to see that sub-one minute as well.”

Sheforgen knows Ebel will do everything in her power to make it happen.

“She’s always been goal oriented and driven to be her best, and luckily she loves the workout,” Sheforgen said. “Like that’s a challenge for her, and she likes to push herself to be her best, not just when it’s time to race, but every day in practice.”

Ebel, who competes year-round at the club level and will start her college career next year at Nebraska-Kearney, agreed that there is nothing she enjoys more than striving for that next goal.

“Swimming is the one thing that I just want to see how far I can push myself, because there’s nothing stopping me,” she said. “So, I might as well just see how far I can go and test my ability.

“I know that every day in the water is just a day to get better and get faster.”

Sheforgen, herself a former college swimmer at the University of Kansas, sees both the joy and determination in Ebel.

“She’s got enough internal personal drive to make it happen, and just her smile,” Sheforgen said. “That’s what I remember when she was little, that she just had the biggest smile all the time and was just soaking it all in.”

“I still see that come out in practices now.”