FLEMING ISLAND - Fleming Island High junior swimmer William Shoesmith has a few big decisions to make, though, completing one recently with his commit to the University of Virginia for his college plans as area swimmers finished off final season matchups in lieu of upcoming districts, regions and the state championships.

Virginia swimmers won 11 medals in eight events at the recent Tokyo Olympics; five gold, five silver, one bronze, led by Kate Douglass winning the first ever gold medal for the Cavaliers.

"I got fourth in the 200 IM (Individual Medley) and eighth in the 500 free last year at state," said Shoesmith, who recently returned from a four-day training session at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with Olympic gold medalist Brendan Hansen. "I'm a distance swimmer; pretty decent in the sprints, but not enough to medal, I think. I will be competing in those same events this year for a state meet invite."

Shoesmith cited swimmers such as Gretchen Walsh,
In Colorado Springs, Shoesmith was among the top five to 10 distance swimmers in the country with an opportunity to get some high-intensity training from Olympic and national level coaches.

"I do more distance swimming like the 800, mile, half mile; stuff they don't swim in high school meets, so they pick the top three in the country to see who goes international and who goes national," Shoesmith said. "Right now, I'm fifth ranked in the mile in the nation with the top three going to international meets."

Shoesmith's 1500 meters freestyle times; long course, meaning in a 50-meter pool versus the 25-yard-high school pool, is in the 15-minute, 50–51-minute range.

"Bobby Finke, Olympic gold medalist, is like 14:30, with Katie Ledecky around 15:30 for the Olympic women," Shoesmith said. "I've met Bobby Finke at a camp at University of Florida; got a swim cap, and he told me two years ago and he helped me to perfect my stroke to wear I am now."

Shoesmith noted that Finke's historical last 500 meters and Ledecky's last 200 meters of a 1500-meter race are what separates them from the rest of the world.

"It's just hard work in the pool and being able to hold a hard pace for a long time," Shoesmith said. "He will go out in like a 55 second for the first 100 meters which is really fast on its own, but he'll hold 57s and 58s to the 500 meters to go mark. That's what separates him from the rest of the world and it's just getting the laps in in training."

Shoesmith's training is shared between the Bolles Sharks swim club sessions and training with his Fleming Island High training sessions.
"The top guy in high school is a really low 15-minutes range," Shoesmith said. "He's a junior, when I was at nationals, he was at junior worlds. He's broken some of Michael Phelps' records."

Shoesmith's reference to the national record pins 16-year-old Californian Luka Mijatovic who set the national record as a 15-year-old of 15:26.73 in the 1500 and 45.89 in the 400 meters while being the youngest swimmer to break eight minutes in the 800 meters.

"My goal right now is to get to 15:22," Shoesmith said. "Brendan Hansen, the director at the training camp, told us that we were at the point in our lives that our talent was not what will get us to the national team and beyond, but the work we put it. In that room, we had the best distance swimmers in the country. Bottom line was who was going to want it the most."

For the numbers, Shoesmith noted that he does nearly 6,000 yards of swimming per day with high intensity work at Bolles a couple days of the week, then weightlifting twice a week (Monday/Wednesday) with two hours of swimming afterward.

"Monday and Thursday, I'm swimming up to 10,000 yards both days," Shoesmith said. "Last week, we did nine by 300s, 10 x 100s plus warmup, kick and cooldown, like 6,000. I'm eating constantly to be able to do that."

At his state and national meets, Shoesmith noted his leaning on Uncrustables (peanut butter and jelly pocket snacks) to fuel his body.

"Would be pretty nice to have them sponsor me I eat so many," Shoesmith said

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A second major decision would be to declare Swedish citizenship or American during the upcoming Olympic 2028 cycle.

"My mom is Swedish, and we are talking about," said Shoesmith, who was born in Hawaii and learned to swim while in Japan with his Navy dad. "My two coaches at Bolles are right now deciding which team; Sweden or America."

The third decision is contingent on whether friend and fellow national swimmer Noah Stotler of Clay High decides the events he will swim. Both Shoesmith and Stotler were part of school record setting relays for Bolles in California over the summer at Nationals.

"I love racing Noah, but as friends we race against each other but I'm not going to swim the 200 free because that's his event," Shoesmith said. "We would be pretty even in the 200 and he would beat me in the 100 butterfly."

Results
St. Johns Country Day School vs. Fleming Island vs. Palatka
at St Johns. Oct. 14

Team scores: FIHS combined FIHS 270-60 vs. SJCDS; FIHS 266.60-63 vs. Palatka. SJCDS 148-127 vs. Palatka

Highlights: FIHS - Klara Shoesmith: 1st 200 free (2:09.45); Jake Hall: 1st 200 free (2:14.67); Elizabeth Loehre: 1st 200IM (2:18.02), 1st 100 free (57.31); Grant Robertson: 1st 200IM (2:29.68); Katelyn Moore: 1st 50 free (26.43); William Shoesmith: 1st 50 free (22.88), 1st 500 free (5:06.55); Audrey Hall: 1st 100 Fly (1:08.27); Aiden Niessner: 1st 100 free (57.31); Keira Fetzner: 1st 500 free (5:06.55); Kinsey Yarbrough: 1st 100 backstroke (1:08.97); Summer Vanwagenen: 1st 100 Breaststroke (1:11.61); Fleming Island wins all relays: 200 medley, 200 free, 400 free.
SJCDS: Gaige Jackson: 1st 100 free (51.15), 2nd 50 free (23.31)

Results
Orange Park vs. Middleburg
Oct. 16 at Barco Newton YMCA

Team scores: OPHS combined 195-105 over Middleburg

Highlights: OPHS - Autumn Hill: 1st 200 free (2:41.56); Tyler Nelson: 1st 200 free (2:14.02); Princeton William: 1st 200IM (2:29.70); Juliet Williams: 1st 50 free (29.65)/1st 100 Breast (1:29.68); Ashton Juarez: 1st 50 free (24.82); Jabin Buckman: 1st 100 Butterfly (1:03.11); Adella Crawford: 1st 100 free (1:04.85)/1st 100 back (1:21.43); Dakota Blake: 1st 100 free (55.02)/1st 100 breast (1:12.57); Riley Maslak: 1st 500 free (7:12.60); Nicholas Santana: 1t 100 back (1:09.05); OPHS boys won 400 free relay; boys girls won 200 medley relay and 200 free relays.

MHS: Kenzie McCool: 1st 200 IM (3:39.64); Bella Guy: 1st 100 Butterfly (1:38.47); Landyn Johnson: 1st 500 free (6:21.15); MHS girls won 400 free relay