Madi Cook is a senior varsity swimmer on the South Lakes swim team and provides insights on balancing life and swim.

Do you enjoy swimming?

Yes, swimming is awesome. It’s a great way to wind down after a hard day, or it’s a great way to start one.

What do you do anything swim related outside of school?

I swim Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a winter club team called NCAP. Tuesdays and Thursday nights I coach for RSTA, and I also coach during the summer. School swim is Monday through Thursday, but I usually only go on Thursday for the school. There’s also the occasional meets on the weekends.

How well do you balance swim and school?

It’s pretty hard to balance since I literally have some sort of swim thing everyday. I occasionally miss assignments or stuff like that because of swimming, but in the end it all works out.

How has your season been so far?

School swim hasn’t started yet, but for club swim I’ve already improved all of my times. So I’d say pretty awesome.

What do you hope to achieve this year?

What I really hope to accomplish is getting my 500-meter free time under 6 minutes. I’m about 17 seconds over at the moment, but if I actually “race” or “kick”, as my coaches say, I believe I can do it.

Do you hope to swim in college?

If I can swim in college that’d be awesome. I’m planning to go to NOVA for now. I don’t really follow swim as an actual sport apart from the Olympics. But if I got to choose, I’d pick George Mason. They’ve got a really nice pool facility.