Four-year varsity member Kassie Shannon ’13 has dominated in the pool this season. The two-time CIF champion water polo player swims backstroke and freestyle for the swim team. She looks forward to her last CIF Finals meet and to what her collegiate career at Davidson has in store.

With CIF Finals approaching, what are your chances of winning an event?

It would be amazing to win CIF, but at this point I’m only trying to get into the top 10. I would have to drop a lot of time, which is really difficult in the short races I swim.

What was the highlight of your high school swimming career?

Last year at CIF, it was the first time I made a CIF individual event, even though I missed one of my events, which disqualified me from the meet. The group of people that went to CIF were all really cool and we had a lot of fun staying down in Riverside and competing in the meet.

Was it difficult to manage both swimming and water polo?

In ninth, 10th and 11th grade it wasn’t difficult because I was primarily a water polo player and I only swam during the season so the two sports didn’t overlap that much. This year, I joined a club swim team and so in order to keep up I had to go to morning and Sunday practices, which made my schedule pretty busy. Swimming has definitely complemented my water polo because it made me faster and able to get from forward cover back to defense more quickly.

What is your favorite event to swim in?

The 50 freestyle. It’s the shortest and most fun.

Do you plan on continuing to swim competitively in college?

Yes, I’m going to Davidson College in North Carolina next year. I went on a recruiting trip there in February where I got to meet the coach and team. The coach was really nice and his philosophy on swimming is what I’m looking for. The team was great and I’m really excited to join the team next year.

What is your coach’s philosophy on swimming?

Swimming isn’t all that I enjoy doing and this coach realizes that we do other things and even encourages his swimmers to branch out and try other activities on campus.

How do you prepare for your meets?

Before every meet our coach usually gives us the same warm-up so we get into a racing mood. I usually visualize myself swimming the race a few times before I swim and it lowers the amount of small mistakes I make.

What are you doing this summer to prepare for swimming in college?

I will continue to swim with my club through the summer and swim in meets with them. Collegiate swimming will definitely be a level up from what I am doing now, but hopefully it won’t be too much more difficult.