Jacob Montgomery '17 Recruiting Profile

I am a dedicated swimmer who wants to get as far as I can in this sport and will do my best to achieve that goal. I started swimming when I was 11 in a small recreational league in the mountains.  I did that for three summers, swimming from late April to the end of July for three hours a day.  After my last summer of rec league I wanted to swim more, so my mom and I looked for year-round teams.  By September I was swimming with my new team and trying to go as fast as the club kids.  It was very difficult for me to keep up, because in the mountains the competition was limited; there were very few fast kids so I never NEEDED to go fast.  I struggled to keep up with the new team, which was a mixed high school/college team full of 18 year olds.  Eventually a new group started with kids my age and my hard work eventually paid off. I went from being last in the lane to leading them in every drill.  This April I was moved back to the senior group, where before I was clinging to stay with them, but soon went to being one of the fastest kids on our entire team.  

Swimming has always been a way for me to clear my head and refresh myself.  During finals week I would be frazzled after studying all day, so my mom allowed me to go swim.  When I came back I was rejuvenated and ready to study again.  I am very passionate about swimming.  While others complain during a workout about it being too hard, I swim harder to prove to them that I can achieve what they think is impossible.  My academic life is complex because of being homeschooled for so many years and then put into an online honors program, but it has really put me ahead of my teammates academically, and I love studying history.   I am dedicated to swimming and cannot imagine a day when I don't want to go to swim practice again.  My collegiate goal is to swim on the best swim team I can while pursuing a degree for my career.