How did you get into swimming?

Originally, I wanted to play football when I was really young. My parents said I needed to join the swim team to learn how to swim before I could play football. I just stayed on the swim team for a while and it just turned into my main sport.

Is there a specific thing about swimming that has you coming back to it?

Well, I’ve had my moments with swimming where I don’t want to swim anymore. It’s a really tough sport. It takes up a lot of your time, especially in the mornings and the afternoons. And it can be mentally draining, when you have swim meets and then more practices after that. There are a lot of things that pushed me away, but the team aspect was really what kept bringing me back. I really enjoy having a team of other guys who enjoy swimming and it’s probably my favorite out of all the sports I do. 

What do you think of swimming compared to other high school sports?

I think swimming gets looked over by a lot of people when they’re deciding what high school sports they want to do because you have to get into a cold pool. You have to do morning practices. It can be a little draining at times. I think people graze over it and don’t really do it unless they’re in the swimming circle. But I think for people who are deciding on high school sports they should consider swimming, show up for some practices, see if you like it. I’ve never had a person telling me that they’ve had a bad time at a swim practice even if it was a hard practice.