Up for a challenge

Kris Metje doesn't have anything against Central High School's swimming program -- it just wasn't for him.

Metje, who will be a junior in the fall, swam for the Tigers his freshman year but later decided to concentrate on swimming for the Gators, a local swim club.

"I don't want to sound like I'm putting down high school swimming, but they don't train as hard," Metje said. "They don't swim as many yards. I'm more of a mid- to long-distance freestyle swimmer, and they practice short, high-speed stuff. That's not really my thing."

The 16-year-old has been with the Gators since his mother signed him up when he was 9. About two years ago, Metje began swimming at the sectional level and will compete nearly every weekend this summer with the Gators in both USA Swimming and AAU competitions.

"Just recently, I've really improved a lot," he said. "I was able to make my way up and got to start swimming against better competition."

Metje, winner of the 2003-04 Gator Most Improved Swimmer award, credited much of his recent success to first-year coach Steve Franklin, who took over in August.

"He came in and started working us really hard," Metje said. "It was just a major turnaround in training. I've definitely seen improvements; I dropped two minutes off my mile."

The club generally competes about twice a month except during the summer and practices six days a week, year-round. Metje said, however, the Gators plan to endure a three-week period this summer during which the squad will practice 11 times a week.

"It scared me when coach told me that," he said. "Summer swimming beats the crap out of you."

Metje said the training is just a small portion of his interest in swimming.

"The friendships between all of us is awesome," he said. "I like going to the meets; it's fun because you get a few hours away from home for three days. It's good to be able to keep in shape, but it's just something to do. Swimming is a really important thing in my life."

Metje plans to keep swimming with the Gators and possibly even make a return to Central's team his senior year. He wants to swim in college and has his eyes set on the University of Missouri-Columbia or Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

"A big thing I've always wanted to do is swim in college; that's one of my main goals," he said. "I want to go to the best place I can, and I've got two more years to get to that level."

Mark Unterreiner is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian. His Spotlight feature appears every Thursday.