Sam Klein
Print/Podcast Editor
Editor’s Note: Some details have been updated as the brothers continue their season.
Calum and Emmett Shank are brothers on the men’s swim and dive team. They’ve broken records, gone to State, and now, senior Calum Shank has committed to swim at Mckendree University.
Calum announced his commitment to swim for McKendree University’s men’s swim and dive team via an instagram post on Sunday, Sept. 10. McKendree is a division two school in Lebanon, Il.
Calum spoke about his choice to swim in college, “It’s really just been a big part of who I am and a big part of my life in general. It’s something that I couldn’t really see myself without especially right now, and I really like the social aspect of the sport on top of the just being bored and having something to do,” Shank explained.
“McKendree is a relatively new program. They’re top of D2 for men. Their coach, at least in my eyes, he’s a legend, and he knows what he’s doing, and on my visits there the team was awesome. They clicked really easily and really well,” Calum said about his choice to go to McKendree.
Both the brothers have broken multiple school records. The most recent record Calum broke was 56 years old and was for the 200 m freestyle.
However, Calum said the first record he broke was his favorite. “The 200 IM (individual meadly) sophomore year State. It was finals, and I touched the wall, and I honestly wasn’t expecting to even be close to it. I didn’t even know the record at the time, but when they told me after, I was super excited, so that one probably felt the best,” Calum said.
Calum currently holds seven school records; it used to be eight until his brother, Emmett, broke the 500 freestyle record, taking it from Calum. “I have the 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley, the 100 freestyle, the 100 breaststroke. I had the 500. Emmett has that now, and then I’m part of the 200 freestyle relay,” Calum said.
The brothers again both participated in the 200 freestyle relay during the Conference meet and broke the record again at Rockwood Summit’s Natatorium on Wednesday Oct. 25.
Calum recently broke his other two records at the Columbia Missouri Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 30, including the 400 Freestyle relay, which included his brother Emmett as well and the 200 medley relay which also included Emmett.
Calum’s younger brother, Emmett, is a junior on the swim team and also holds several school records, including the 500 freestyle that Calum once held. Emmett broke the 500 freestyle record again at their Conference meet day.
“I’ve broken two records. One relay which was with Calum and the 500 freestyle, which I broke 10 minutes before the relay,” Emmett recounted his records.
Emmett also broke two individual records at the Columbia Missouri Invitational which were the 200 m and 500 m freestyle both of which Calum held before.
The brothers have both been swimming since the age of six, and both swim on the same club, Parkway Swim Club, and the high school team.
“He’s like a motivator for me because I want to be a better swimmer than him, and it’s also good for morale, and it’s fun swimming with him. This year I swim with him on high school, and we’re in the same club group,” Emmett explained what it’s like to swim with his older brother.
Emmett also talked about how Calum’s success has motivated him. “He just committed to McKendree for swimming. I would also like to commit to a college in the future and swim there too,” Emmett said.
Calum notes what swimming with his brother is like. “It’s great swimming with Emmett. He pushes me a lot. My whole family swims, so we all have a big thing that we do with each other. It’s always good to have somebody to push me,” Calum said.
“I’m kind of just motivated by how much of a grind that it is. I feel like once you get going everything kind of just steamrolls together, you just keep rolling. I’d just say having good teammates, having a good coach, that’s having a good mentor, everything just rolls together.” Calum added what motivates him outside of his brother.
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Sam Klein- Print/Podcast EditorThis will be Sam Klein’s first year on ECHO Staff, but she also made several contributions while taking journalism class her sophomore year. |
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