Carmel High School sits just north of Indianapolis. It’s known for its nationally recognized boys and girls swim programs but has never had an Olympian.Now two athletes, who spent nearly their entire high school careers together are in Tokyo making history.“It's very cool to see how that goal became more and more reality. It's something I've been thinking about since I really first started swimming,” Drew Kibler said. Kibler’s dream started while very young. After a successful career at Carmel, his talent has taken him to the University of Texas-Austin. After qualifying for his first Olympic team, his dreams will be put to the test as a member of the 4 x 200-meter relay team in Tokyo. That distance is iconic as some of the best to ever swim raced that length. “I've looked up to some of the greatest 200 freestylers of all time like Michael Phelps or Ian Thorpe and I really admire how hard they must have worked to swim the races, the way they swam them,” Kibler said. His high school teammate, and now Michigan Wolverine, Jake Mitchell had a somewhat lonely route to the team during qualifications. After a second-place finish but not making the Olympic cut time, he got the chance to do it again with the swimming world watching. He was given the pool to himself. One shot to swim as fast as he could to hit the time. He says that morning he knew something special was going to happen. “Everyone was cheering. The only goal in mind was for me to get that cut. It was just an incredible feeling and I didn't want to let them down. So, I went out as fast as I could and held on and I was able to get the cut. Looking around everyone was super proud of me. Looking up and seeing my parents, it was a super surreal moment,” Mitchell said. Kibler was right there to witness the moment that brought the crowd to their feet. “I was watching his race on the sideline and I lost my mind. It's a really, really amazing thing to witness,” Kibler said.Two young men with big Olympic dreams, with the support of their high school, universities and hometown of Carmel, Indiana, cheering them on, are ready to hit Olympic glory. “I've done a lot of thinking about what it means to be great. I think that's a very heavy topic of, like, tackling the true meaning of greatness. But, Carmel definitely has the key aspects of what it takes to be great,” Kibler said.“I just think of, like, for us to both kind of find our way back I guess together and be able to have different journeys, we still have the same kind of result. It's just a really cool thing,” Mitchell said. Mitchell will compete in the 400-meter freestyle Saturday. Kibler will compete in the 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay Tuesday.
Carmel High School sits just north of Indianapolis. It’s known for its nationally recognized boys and girls swim programs but has never had an Olympian.
Now two athletes, who spent nearly their entire high school careers together are in Tokyo making history.
“It's very cool to see how that goal became more and more reality. It's something I've been thinking about since I really first started swimming,” Drew Kibler said.
Kibler’s dream started while very young. After a successful career at Carmel, his talent has taken him to the University of Texas-Austin. After qualifying for his first Olympic team, his dreams will be put to the test as a member of the 4 x 200-meter relay team in Tokyo. That distance is iconic as some of the best to ever swim raced that length.
“I've looked up to some of the greatest 200 freestylers of all time like Michael Phelps or Ian Thorpe and I really admire how hard they must have worked to swim the races, the way they swam them,” Kibler said.
His high school teammate, and now Michigan Wolverine, Jake Mitchell had a somewhat lonely route to the team during qualifications. After a second-place finish but not making the Olympic cut time, he got the chance to do it again with the swimming world watching. He was given the pool to himself. One shot to swim as fast as he could to hit the time. He says that morning he knew something special was going to happen.
“Everyone was cheering. The only goal in mind was for me to get that cut. It was just an incredible feeling and I didn't want to let them down. So, I went out as fast as I could and held on and I was able to get the cut. Looking around everyone was super proud of me. Looking up and seeing my parents, it was a super surreal moment,” Mitchell said.
Kibler was right there to witness the moment that brought the crowd to their feet.
“I was watching his race on the sideline and I lost my mind. It's a really, really amazing thing to witness,” Kibler said.
Two young men with big Olympic dreams, with the support of their high school, universities and hometown of Carmel, Indiana, cheering them on, are ready to hit Olympic glory.
“I've done a lot of thinking about what it means to be great. I think that's a very heavy topic of, like, tackling the true meaning of greatness. But, Carmel definitely has the key aspects of what it takes to be great,” Kibler said.
“I just think of, like, for us to both kind of find our way back I guess together and be able to have different journeys, we still have the same kind of result. It's just a really cool thing,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell will compete in the 400-meter freestyle Saturday. Kibler will compete in the 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay Tuesday.
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