Although the swim team might not be the most successful team at Elder, there are still some standout swimmers that put in tremendous amounts of work but are not given the recognition they deserve. One such swimmer is senior Stephen Metzner.

Don’t let his height dissuade you from the fact that he is a machine in the pool. Steve can move through the water like nobody else on the team thanks to how hard he has worked over the past four years. And all this despite the height advantage that many other swimmers have on him.

After swimming with Stephen for four years, I have amassed a multitude of memories of him that I am certain will stick with me for quite a while after graduation. One of his most impressive moments was the training he did over Christmas break.

To illustrate, Stephen participates in both club swimming and Elder Swimming, and over the break the club team had 16 extremely difficult practices over the course of 10 days. Although most people might think it would be a good idea to take a break after something like this, he went right back to swimming and working out every day, showing his absolute dedication to the sport.

Despite working this hard all the time, he still has a very fun side. My favorite memory of Stephen shows this quite clearly. We were changing in the Anderson High School locker rooms after a meet when a giant cockroach came out of nowhere. Stephen, using his quick wit and expert sleight of hand, took his trademark purple water bottle and slung it at the roach with the precision of an MLB pitcher. The water bottle struck the roach with a force greater than that of an atomic bomb, completely obliterating it in the most impressive fashion I have ever seen. After this he looked at the remains of the roach with a sort of “gotcha” look, and we all kept joking about it later.

I’m not the only person who has had great experiences with him. Griffin Kelley, for example, said that he is “extremely hilarious, hard-working, and an overall great addition to the swim team and Elder as a whole.”

Dominic Cittadino stated that “Stephen will never back down from a hard workout and always puts in his full effort to just about everything he does. He might not say much, but what he does say is hilarious every time.”

“Stephen is my main competitor,” said junior Owen Meier. “He helps me to work hard all the time and I’ll try to beat him in whatever way I can. I loved beating him in our king of the hill competition.”

Stephen has some lofty goals for the end of the swim season this year. One of these goals that has been his goal the entire season, is to break 50 seconds in the 100 freestyle. He has been extremely close all year long, but he always seems to come up just short, even coming in with a 50.02 at Coaches’ Classic. He will probably be breaking that pretty easy in the final meets because he will be more well rested and in a speed suit, and it will be great to see him do it.

Another goal of his is to qualify for Districts in the 100 freestyle. By breaking 50 seconds, he will have accomplished this goal because the time will be more than fast enough to do so. Despite these being his main goals, though, there is a slightly more lofty possibility that he is able to make an appearance at State this year for that event. Although it is going to take a massive time drop if this is going to take place, crazier things have happened that nobody expected either. It may seem unlikely, but Stephen does have a shot at getting to State if he has a really great race.

I’m excited to see how the rest of the season will turn out for him, and the entire swim team is sincerely hoping that he can turn these goals into a reality.