For Fountain Central’s Mary Rice, the sport of swimming means more to her and her family than most.
When Mary swam to the sectional title in the 100 yard breaststroke two weeks ago at Crawfordsville High School, there were plenty of tears for many reasons.
The first reason was that the senior would get to race a final time at the IUPUI Natatorium at the state finals.
Another reason was her late father, Jay Rice.
Jay was a former coach for the Mustangs, and saw his eldest son Sam swim at the state finals in 2019. That was the last year a FC swimmer advanced to Indianapolis.
During that time Jay, a former Marine, was fighting a personal battle with glioblastoma. Unfortunately, his health continued to decline over the next few years, and he eventually succumbed to cancer in 2022.
For Mary to follow in Sam and Jay’s footsteps and be able to swim at the state finals, is something the Rice family will remember for quite sometime.
As the youngest member of the family, Mary is last to come through Fountain Central.
Going into the sectional race Mary was seeded second, and didn’t think she’d be able to win.
“I had never beaten Guinevere (Schmitzer-Torbert) in a race my entire career,” she said. “Once we got going in the race I saw that I was right there with her and that’s when I really started to believe in myself. I gave it my all on that last length and the last 15 yards I was just trying to do my best and hope that I was able to win and sure enough
“I looked up at the board and I couldn’t believe it. It was definitely a moment that I’m going to remember forever.”
As the youngest sibling growing up Mary always looked up to her older brothers, Sam and Jacob, and wanted to be able to follow in their footsteps.
“I wanted to prove it to myself more than anything,” Mary said. “Getting to have my name up there alongside my brother who went to state all four years, I wanted to leave my own mark with the Rice family.”
Mary’s mom Anita Rice has been there every step of the way to watch her children and late husband do what they love.
She has enjoyed watching Mary have the season she has had — nearly going undefeated in the breaststroke along with the thrilling win at the sectional —
“That sectional race was probably one of the most heart-pounding I’ve ever seen Mary race,” Anita said. “We all got to watch the video back and Mary asked us if we were crying and we simply said of course we were. We all knew that Mary had it in her, and to see it come to fruition was truly special.
“Watching her grow up with Jay around coaching all of them, I had to bring a lot of dinners to the pool and revolve my life around what they loved to do. Jay would keep them in there so much because he knew they all could accomplish great things.”
Jay was not only a great coach to his three children, but a great person and mentor. For a few years, he was in charge of the in-school-suspension room at FCHS. He made sure those kids didn’t go down the wrong path.
Jay also was a standout swimmer when he attended Fountain Central. He advanced to the state finals placing sixth in IM and ninth in butterfly. He went on to swim at Wabash College where he was a four-time All-American.
“We obviously spent so much quality time together as father and daughter, but also as an athlete and coach,” Mary said. “It was one of those things where he was hard on me for all the right reasons. I loved it because he was such a good coach and it allowed our relationship to be even better.”
With what Mary accomplished in her career she has left her mark in Mustang history and can say she’s a state qualifier just like her older brothers.
“It feels amazing to be able to throw my name in there with my brothers,” she said. “It’s something we can all look back on and be proud of what we did as a family.”
Mary’s appearance at the state finals was felt by Mustang fans everywhere. Everyone knew Jay was looking down on her with a big smile on his face.
