GODFREY — Noah Clancy is a young man of few words.

Clancy lets his swimming speak for itself. And the conversation was a loud one last season at the Illinois High School Sectional in Springfield.

Despite having to swim as an individual representing Alton High School, Clancy went about the task of making his way to the IHSA Boys State Swim and Dive Meet in his typical workman-like manner. And he succeeded, making it to the state meet in the 100-yard backstroke – as a freshman.

“I had swam the state time already,” Clancy said, “but I had to do it at the sectional to get to state.”

Clancy had set a goal of reaching the IHSA State Meet during his high-school swim career – sometime during that career.

He just took care of it sooner than later. And for that, he’s The Telegraph Boys Swimmer of the Year. In addition to swimming at the sectional for AHS, Clancy trains and competes year-round with the TCAY Tidalwaves swim club of Godfrey.

“Noah is such a dedicated swimmer – such a hard worker,” said Tri City Area YMCA Tidalwaves coach Nancy Miller, who has been Clancy’s swim coach since he started competitive swimming as a toddler with the Summers Port SWISA team.

“There was never any doubt that he could reach (the state meet),” he said. “Actually, his future is extremely bright. The sky’s the limit.”

And while Clancy’s appearance at the state meet fulfilled one of his goals, it prepared him in good shape to make it to another of his goals – advancing from the prelims to the finals and hopefully, winning a state title.

In The Telegraph area, only Edwardsville and O’Fallon offer varsity swimming. Everyone else is in it as an individual, without a chance to earn team points.

You see, Alton High doesn’t have a bona fide dual-meet swim team. And since that’s the case, the IHSA allows Alton High athletes, as well as those from any other such school, to swim at the postseason sectional level as individuals representing their school.

“That kind of matters,” Clancy said, referring to not swimming on a traditional high school swim team. Instead, he took part in larger (and longer) age-group meets with the Tidalwaves. “You really need people to push you to get ready for a meet like this.”

At the Springfield Sectional, Clancy won the 100-yard backstroke, automatically qualifying him for the state meet. but he did it in state-qualifying time as well.

“I didn’t know I won until I touched the wall and looked up at the scoreboard,” said Clancy. “I was very surprised.”

Clancy hit the wall in 51.82 seconds, leading four swimmers who qualified for the state meet with state-qualifying times. He also finished fifth in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:03.27.

Swimmers who finish first or swim a state-qualifying time at a sectional meet qualify for the state meet.

“I started to taper for the sectional two weeks ago,” said Clancy. The IHSA allows swimmers from such schools to enter the sectional and represent their school as an individual, but points cannot be earned toward the team title.

Heading into the state meet at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Clancy had a Top 10 spot in the 45-swimmer 100-yard backstroke prelims at this weekend’s IHSA Boys State Swim and Dive Meet. Clancy’s winning time of 51.82 seconds at the Springfield Sectional Meet earned him a No. 9 seed in the highly competitive event.

But at the state meet’s Friday prelims, Clancy came up shy of advancing to the Saturday finals. And it was during those prelims he said he finally understood was the pre-meet talk was about concerning the state swim meet being a different kind of meet than he’d ever experienced.

“I had been sitting waiting to swim for about five hours,” Clancy said. “So I wasn’t in the best shape. And then my feet slipped down when I pushed off at the start.”

Clancy’s time in the prelims was 52.17 seconds, .35 of a second off his seed time of 51.82 from the sectional. He had a 50-yard split time of 25.15 and a second 50 split of 27.02.

“Plus, I didn’t have the best first turn,” he said. “I was a little rattled and tried to streamline to get back. I loved the atmosphere. I knew it was going to be loud and cramped. Everybody I talked to tried to prepare me, but it’s something you have to see.

“I never realized how big the state meet is up there,” he said. “It was amazing. It’s definitely something I plan on doing again.”