This week’s featured athlete is sophomore Jonathan Chiles.
Chiles has been swimming since fourth grade, when he took lessons through the Piranhas Swim Club, and eventually started swimming competitively through the organization. He credits his mother as an early influence, as she swam in high school. Chiles other factor for keeping with swimming is rather simple: he really enjoys it.
Once he got to high school, he joined the school’s team and currently swims the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle and sometimes the 200 IM. However, Chiles still competes for the piranhas, when not in season with the school.
Chiles enjoys swimming because of how supportive his teammates are and the satisfaction of dropping time off of a personal record. This happened to Chiles at the first meet of the season, when he was able to drop nearly 10 seconds off of his 500 freestyle personal best.
This is especially important, as his personal record is 5:35, which is five seconds off of the time needed to get a varsity letter. This means that Chiles has a realistic goal to achieve over the course of the season. He said, “I definitely believe that I can get there especially if I keep working hard in practice.”
Chiles work toward his personal goals has attracted the respect of his teammates. Senior captain Noah Streeter said, “Jonathan is the kind of guy you can rely on every day to be giving it all. He’s a pivotal part of the foundation of the swim team and what it represents. He’s a true athlete.”
As with all swimmers, Chiles has to deal with the severe time restriction and often sleep deprivation that comes with high school swimming. With four morning practices and 5 evening practices, it’s no wonder that there’s barely time for homework. To combat this, Chiles does his homework whenever he has free time in school, before practice, or even during meets.
Even with this drawback, Chiles encourages anybody considering swimming to give it a shot. “Swimming is a big commitment and can be really challenging, but the experience and the team environment really make it worth it.”
