Jagger Chan is in the pool during one of the most important meets of his swimming career to date – he is attempting to achieve a new personal record. The sounds of the crowd cheering and splashing of the pool are loud and Chan’s heart is racing. Most swimmers would not be able to perform under this pressure, but Chan seems to thrive under the high stakes. Chan finishes the race with an incredible pace and ends up breaking his record. 

Chan, a sophomore on HSE’s varsity swim team has been swimming since he was four years old, although that was originally just for water safety. Around the age of seven he joined the swimming club and after years of determination and persistence, he started to steadily improve. By eighth grade, he took his biggest leap as a swimmer with his coach Ben Wachtel as his guide. 

 “Under coach Ben I was able to improve my speed” Chan said. “[I] ended up making podium at state and was able to represent team Indiana at zones.” 

As Chan improved as a swimmer, his passion for the sport also increased. His high school career has been promising so far.  

 “Freshman year was also another year of huge growth and accomplishments” Chan said. “This year I hope to be able to make State with the time of 58.16 for the 100 breaststroke.” 

 His improvements can be heavily attributed to determination and hard work. Despite all his accomplishments he continues to push himself to get even better than he already is. Chan’s hard work allows him to reach his very difficult goals, such as making state during freshman year.  Now as a sophomore, he is continuing to do great things and improving every day, finishing this season strong ranked fifty-first in Indiana and rolling around to sectionals on Feb. 20.