by Lynn Colburn
Colin Wilson showed amazing drive at the YMCA State swim meet in Indiana when he won the Illinois State 2022 YMCA Swimming Championships Boys’ 14 and Under Small Team Champion honor, and he was the only 14 and under boy on the Bob Freesen YMCA Shark Swim Team swimming at the meet — quite an accomplishment for this well-spoken competitor with a drive to continue to improve his skills, especially when he didn’t start competitive swim until he was in fifth grade.
Wilson says, “We start the season in September, and we work all the way until March. So, it’s a big effort that you have to put into it. I did take a break in there for high school swimming from about Thanksgiving until February. So, in that short time I’m doing the high school swim instead of the Y.”
He says, “Every day of the week is practice, but usually I take Fridays off. I’m trying to get better at working all five days.” With school and other activities, four-days-a-week workouts work for him.
Of course, his “break” was for the Jacksonville High School (JHS) Swim Team, so he was still busy swimming for coach Sam Black with a different set of teammates. Wilson is a freshman this year at JHS. “Coach helped me a lot on my technique which probably helped me with the time drops even for the YMCA season ending. He is a really great guy,” says Wilson.
His dad, Evan Wilson, chimed in for him that, “He was All-Conference Honorable Mention even as a freshman, so he had a good high school swim team season.” All-conference also means Colin Wilson maintained a good grade point average at school.
Colin Wilson stated, “I ended up getting MVP for the team this year at our swim team banquet. The MVP will be a fun time next year with my friend, Jack Borgman. He is the one who convinced me to swim in the first place. We’re always pretty close in swimming together. It will be fun to butt heads next year. We’ve been neck-and-neck. We are really competitive, but in a good way. I started swimming in my fifth-grade year (about 9-10 years old). So next year will be my fifth year on the swim team. Jack started swimming when he was about 6 years old and loved it and talked me into to joining the team.
“YMCA swim team has completely changed my life! With friends and all, I’ve even become friends with the coach. Everyone there is really supportive of each other. It is a really great community!”
His dad said, “In swim team you’re competing, but you’re not competing against each other per se, so everyone is cheering for one another, and it is a different team dynamic than other types of sports teams.”
Colin Wilson loves going to the meets: “Throughout the season, all the Danville team and the Sharks team tend to sit together during meets. Jack and I have made a friend named Charlie from Danville. He’s a really good swimmer and really nice so it is fun to see him meets and hang out together. And when you go to meets, you get to know who to watch out for in the different teams during the races.”
He says, “Just being able to get your PR (personal record) is one of the best feelings at a meet. Somehow, I will always drop time when I need to. This year, notably, I couldn’t drop below 1:10 in my breaststroke during the high school season. Once the high school season ended, we had Districts and State left at the Y, and I dropped in both. So, I finally got below the 1:10 at Districts and in State I think I even got to a 1:06.” In a pool, 100ths of a second can be a big to drop, so Wilson dropped quite a bit of time during those meets.
In 2020, Wilson had qualified for the State meet, but was disappointed when the message came in March that the meet had been cancelled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Wilson qualified for the 2022 Illinois YMCA State Swimming Championship and traveled to Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana on March 11-13 where 37 YMCA teams were participating.
He says, “District and State are some of my favorite meets, because of the competition. I think that has a huge factor in how well I perform and how well our team all performs. The energy level on the pool deck is so awesome.”
Wilson has obviously proven this past year that he has the drive to work hard and find that part in himself to reach his goals. He says, “I’m trying to mirror one of my team idols, Jon Leutz’s, times as best as I can to go places with swimming.”
Wilson was the only 13-14 age group boy swimming for the Bob Freesen YMCA Sharks Team at State. He placed in the top 10 in five of the six events in which he swam during the meet. In the sixth, he barely missed, placing 11th.
“My best one was breaststroke and I just missed standing on the podium. But my ultimate goal for State was to be in the top 10 for just that event,” says Wilson, and he far
exceeded his goal. He placed 9th in 50-yard freestyle, 5th in 100-yard freestyle, 6th in 200-yard freestyle, 4th in 100-yard breaststroke, 10th in 100-yard butterfly and 11th in 200-yard individual medley (IM), in which swimmers swim butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle. He scored a total of 92 points individually at the meet. Still, what really surprised both Colin Wilson and his family was that those points led to the 14 & Under Boys’ Small Team State Championship for the Jacksonville YMCA Sharks, ahead of the second place Danville YMCA Dolphins who had 87 points.
“We hadn’t really thought about the points leading to that. I hadn’t won an event, so it wasn’t even in my thoughts. I had faced a lot of other guys from bigger teams, and I was able to win that championship for the team. I was pretty ecstatic!” expressed Wilson.
Other members of the Bob Freesen YMCA Jaxy Sharks also qualified for the State swim meet. Coach Danielle Schnake says, “We had eight relays qualify, which was terrific! This is the most swimmers we have had qualify for State since I became head coach in 2017. The first year, I had one relay and one individual (so a total of five swimmers) and the number of qualifiers has grown every year!” Other team members who qualified and swam in 2022 YMCA State Championships were Jack Borgman, Cade Emerick (13th in 21 & under boys’ 1650-yard freestyle), London Adams, Katrina Zimmer, Lyla Crowder (10th in 11-12 girls’ 100-yard butterfly), Clarissa Emerick, Ella Bruere, Logann Padilla, Alais Anderson (14th in 9-10 girls’ 200-yard IM) and Liam Sykes (9th in 8 & under 25-year back).
Schnake says, “It was a great meet, and I am so proud of the entire team and their hard work and efforts during the whole season, Junior Districts, Districts and State. They were all always there to cheering each other on through the whole season. And Colin’s championship for the team topped it all off.”
“I would definitely recommend swim team for everyone. Give it a shot!” Wilson says enthusiastically.
“It has done so much for me. You’ll meet great people. You’ll have a good time. And it’s a terrific way to stay in shape, too. The cardio is fantastic. If other people give it a shot, it could be even bigger in Jacksonville than it is now! We’d love to see more people come join the Y team any time.” Even if people don’t have experience, he says to try it. Just look to his example: he started later, but worked hard, had fun and has done an amazing job.
“My ultimate goal is to go to a division one school in swim,” says Wilson with a grin.
“That’s the dream. I’m going to have to really work hard for it. There are guys that have so much natural talent. I wasn’t a natural born swimmer; I have to really work for it. But I think I have a chance.”
Now that the YMCA State Championships are over, Wilson has joined the JHS Tennis team along with a bunch of other JHS swim team members. With his competitive spirit and love of team sports, we wish him luck in tennis and will watch his accomplishments in the world of YMCA and high school swimming as he continues in his quest.
