Senior Kyle Shock stepped on the starting block at the Macomb County boys’ swim meet on Feb. 3, attempting to make Utica High School swim history. He had a serious shot at breaking the longtime 100 meter butterfly record. Most swimmers would have been nervous, but Shock was not.

“All the training I’ve done should fall in during the race,” Shock said. “I wasn’t really nervous. It just turned into adrenaline.”

The buzzer sounded, and off they went. All eight swimmers flew into the pool, trying to chase down a first place victory.

Throughout all four lengths, Shock had his eye on the prize.

“I thought, ‘just keep moving,’” Shock said. “‘Just keep going. Don’t slow down.’”

The last length of the race loomed, and Shock began feeling fatigued. As he touched the wall, he peered up at the scoreboard, and a sense of accomplishment overcame him. He swam a 54.41 time, breaking the former school record.

“I felt happy, and so accomplished,” Shock said. “All the training I’d done had finally paid off.”

Shock, along with senior Joshua Anderson, senior Elijah Huyghe, junior Ian Wasilewski, junior George Paul, sophomore Ryan Fromm, sophomore Cameron Smale, and sophomore Dominic Lount, helped their team finish ninth in the county.

“It was exciting to swim at counties,” Smale said. “We’ve worked really hard this season, and it was fun to see Kyle break the school record.”

Although De La Salle had captured another consecutive victory, Chieftain swimmers held their own, breaking the 100 meter butterfly record, and just falling a second short of the 200 meter freestyle relay.

“I feel like we could have done better if we put in more effort,” Wasilewski said.

Nobody is worried though, as there are a few more chances to break more records before the end of the season in early March.

“It’s been exciting,” Anderson said, “although the freshmen and sophomores will take over soon.”

All in all, with a new school record broken and many qualifying swimmers, the team is ready for divisions. Now it is time to put the meet behind them and focus on upcoming challenges.