By Maya Kostov
On the Tempe Prep Swim Team this year, we have many talented swimmers. Two of those swimmers are David Hudson and Jeffrey Snoddy. David is in the 100-200 butterfly Junior National Level where you can only make it on that level if you are 18 years or younger and you have a time under 49.9 seconds.
He is currently applying to California Polytechnic State University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Colorado School of Mines. He would like to become a bio technical engineer.
On average, he swims 17 hours per week, six days a week. He also swims on a club team called the Scottsdale Aquatic Club. He has been swimming for three years and he made the scholastic all-around team where you have to apply with your time and your grades.
His says, “My advice to younger swimmers is to set goals. Set some that take weeks and some that take years. Give yourself the stepping stones to where you want to go.”
Jeffrey Snoddy has been swimming for eight years. He started when he was six years old, only swimming in the summer but his mother enrolled him in swimming year round because he would always sit around the house being bored. He also swims for Scottsdale Aquatic Club.
Jeffrey has swum all four years of high school on the school swim team. He is attempting to get into college for swim at Yale, Columbia, California Polytechnic State University, Harvard, and Washington and Lee. Washington and Lee is a Division 3 school which is very expensive.
At this year’s High School Championship, Jeffrey needs to drop two seconds in his breastroke and freestyle to be able to apply for the other colleges like Yale and Harvard. He swims on average 20 hours a week, 6 days a week.
Jeffrey’s advice to swimmers is to “make every practice count. If you want to do well and succeed, you must have determination and put in the work.”
These two swimmers have put an outstanding amount of effort and perseverance into swimming, and so has the entire swim team. This will definitely pay off for them soon.
The championship swim meets for Junior High and High School are approaching rapidly. Clara Moffit, Hannah Stough, Mary Elias, and Lily Cozens won first place medals in the women’s relay. Many other swimmers have won or been close to winning medals in relays.
