When you walk into the pool at Parkway South, the first thing you see is the swimming and diving record board. There are a lot of familiar names on this board, but one name that fans will see started making waves last year as a sophomore and is continuing to crush records this season.
After a remarkable two days at the Mizzou Aquatic Center last weekend, Patriot junior Kylee Sullivan has earned the first High School Sports Caravan/Scoops with Danny Mac Student-Athlete of the Week award.
Sullivan broke the meet record in the 200-yard IM and helped a pair of relay teams set new meet marks en route to winning four gold medals at the prestigious CoMo Girls Invitational. She also aided the Patriots to the school title in the event.
The CoMo meet is one of the top meets that is held in the state to help schools prepare for the Missouri State High School Activities Association Swimming and Diving Championships.
“The preparation for the CoMo meet included focusing on race strategies, trying to prepare for state, and getting good times to be seeded better at state,” stated Sullivan. “We knew that we had a strong team going into it and had a chance to win with fast times.”
Sullivan and her teammates on the 200-yard Medley Relay set the tone for the finals with a new meet record in a time of 1:46.52. This time also is the best relay time in the state, which will go a long way into the seeded for the state meet. She also was a part of the 200-yard Free Relay that also set a new meet time of 1:37.81 as that time also gave her team the best time in the state.
“We have a really fun group to train with and we are competitive with each other at practices and to see that pay off in a meet and for it to all come together and see those times, it is really rewarding,” said Sullivan.
What the normal fan does not understand about swimming and diving is that these remarkable athletes do not start their days as a typical student does. They are in the pool training early in the morning before school to help perfect their craft.
“Usually, I have seven to eight practices a week, Monday through Saturday with Sundays off to recover,” stated Sullivan. “If we have a dual meet, we will practice in the morning to get that extra yardage in, and then we will normally do two doubles a week depending on how heavy the schedule is with meets. Practices will start at 5:15 a.m. There are a lot of early mornings.”
To be able to participate at such a high level, especially in swimming, the commitment level is off the charts. It starts with those early practices and continues in the off-season with continued training and taking part in events with club teams.
“I started swimming when I was eight years old, but it was after my freshman year that I decided that I have potential in this sport and I want to go far and do well, and to do that, it takes more time and commitment,” said Sullivan. “I think that in my sophomore year, I decided to achieve the goals I wanted to, or get closer at least. That just drove me. Once you achieve those goals, you want to keep doing that.”
Sullivan has used her performances in the pool and also in the classroom over the past two and a half years to lead her to commit to furthering her athletics and academics at Mizzou.
Not only is she getting it done in the pool, but Sullivan is carrying a 4.025 GPA in the classroom at Parkway South.
As for her favorite event, she likes the swim in the 100-yard Fly. This is one of the most technical strokes for a swimmer to learn and she has mastered it. She won the event in the CoMo meet with a time of 56.04, which is again, the fast time in the state this season.
“I think that the stroke has always come naturally to me. Everyone has their strokes but having a fast 100 Fly and doing it well is so much fun.”
Parkway South head swimming coach Blakeleigh Mathes is truly proud of the way that Sullivan has approached the sport and how she has performed this season in helping the Patriots get to the top of the charts in Class Two this year.
“Kylee is one of those athletes that every coach kills for,” stated Mathes. “It is a lot of things that go into who she is and she is an incredibly humble and hard-working kid. For her, she knows what she wants to do. She communicates a lot with me and her club coach, John David, and we try to make sure that she is getting everything that she needs. But more than anything, her performance at CoMo was a culmination of all those early morning practices to all the late nights to the days in the weight room at shows the hard work that she has put in.”
Next up for Sullivan and the Patriots is the Suburban Conference meet at Kirkwood starting on Monday that will see some of the best swimmers and divers in the area look to claim the league title.
Congratulations to Kylee Sullivan on becoming the first High School Sports Caravan/Scoops with Danny Mac Student-Athlete of the Week!
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
