Lucas Penn (11) started swimming in second grade when he saw his friends swimming on a summer league. This year he became one of two WHS swimmers to “go around the world,” meaning he made state cuts in all eight of the individual swimming events.
To achieve such a feat, Penn had to dedicate himself to a rigorous training schedule. “During the high school season, because I do club and high school, I have morning practices for club on Monday and Wednesday,” Penn said. “Then I have afternoon with them Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then I go to high school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
This schedule of course came with difficult practices. “Through tough practices whenever I really just wanted to get out and go home,I just have to think of the reward, at meets and stuff. And the harder I push in practice, the better the rewards will be,” Penn said.
This effort doesn’t go unnoticed. Penn’s teammate, Kaden Sanger (12) explained, “Lucas is a really hard worker. He always strives for his goal, and sets hard goals for himself, which I think helps to improve him to be a better swimmer overall. He’s always putting in the work and ready to go.”
Penn is always a team player and leaves a positive effect on others. “He’s always motivating the team,” Sanger said. “Swimming against Lucas has been super fun. He always motivates me to go faster. And I think being able to swim next to him at state this year was super exciting because it was my last ever event at state. So getting to swim against him right next to him was kind of just a, well, full circle moment.”
Head coach Trevor Timmons (staff), who has coached Penn for three years, said, “Lucas, when he gets in the water, really sets his mind to it and he works hard every time he’s in. He has high expectations for himself, and while he will sometimes laugh that off, he really, you know, might appear to be joking, but he has a good drive that helps him.”
While all events are difficult to qualify in, not all are created equal. Penn, who is primarily a distance swimmer, had difficulties in some of the stroke events.
“I definitely had trouble in the (100) breast and the (100) back,” Penn said. “Because going into the season, my best times didn’t even have those events, so I really had to push it and go to new heights that I didn’t think I could do. For example, in the (100) breast, I had to drop, like, 2 seconds. So that was kind of cool.”
Time drops like these require careful and intentional planning for practices.
“Not locking yourself in with just freestyle and so making sure that there’s a lot of IM (Individual Medley). A lot of variation of strokes across the board and he of course gets that in club, too,” Timmons said. “But when we do things like choice, he’s one of those that will intentionally pick other strokes to really vary it and make sure he’s not just only training freestyle.”
Going “around the world” is no small thing. Timmons explained, “We really only have one or two swimmers a year that make it. And the fact that the ones that do it generally do it multiple years, it means that there’s probably only maybe one swimmer per grade level — if that — that can pull that off. So it’s a pretty remarkable and rare feat.”
Just like any athlete, pressure and anxiety can sometimes get to Penn. “Sometimes the pressure does get to me, but then I always think about all the training that I’ve put in. And in the end, my times won’t affect who I am as a person. So I just have to stay calm and let myself know that I’ll be happy no matter what I do,” Penn said.
