When Kayce McAllister was 8 years old, a friend of hers suggested she jump in the pool and give swimming a try. One small leap turned into one giant lap of success ever since, and she’s just getting warmed up.
“At the time, I was still dancing, cheerleading and playing volleyball, but I quit all to focus on swimming,” she said. “I think this was because I felt really motivated to keep getting better, and I just genuinely liked it more than the other sports I was doing.”
“Getting better” has been a way of life so far for the Dexter freshman, who splashed onto the scene with an amazing first season for the Dreadnaughts. Let’s fast forward to the end of her first year of high school swimming where she joined several of her teammates for a lap around the Division 2 MHSAA State Finals. A very young Dexter team finished with 37 points and landed 18th out of 36 teams that scored points at the Holland Aquatic Center.
McAllister swam in two individual events and on two Dexter relay teams. Remember, she’s just a freshman. She was 16th in the backstroke with a time of 1:01.53 and just missed making the B final in the 50 free. Her time in the 50 free was the third fastest freshman time and in the 100 back it was the second fastest freshman finish.
In the medley relay, Dexter’s team of McAllister, Delaney Parker, Harper Brown and Grace McClellan finished 13th with a time of 1:51.85. The Dexter team of McAllister, Emma Bishop, Parker and Brown was 11th in 1:41.49 in the 200 free relay.
McAllister says this year’s team environment was “super good.”
“Everyone was motivating each other and we could all talk for hours on end about absolutely nothing,” she says. “It was such a great experience coming in as a freshman with amazing upperclassmen to help me with swim and life in general.”
One of her many highlights came during a dual-meet at Saline when teammate Rebekah Murillo got her 500 MISCA cut. “The whole team was cheering and everyone ran over to her,” she said. “It really showed how much the team cared for each other.
“A personal highlight for me was after I would get a state cut, I would look to the side of the pool seeing people jumping and cheering,” she said. “Another team highlight was at our first meet of the season when we got state cuts in two relays which the team hasn’t done in a while.”
Let’s join McAllister on the blocks and dive into her thought process before a race.
“When I am behind the blocks I will always be shaking my legs and arms out and I will fix my goggles and cap up until I am on the blocks,” she says. “I am always talking to myself in my head telling myself that I can do it and go through small corrections I need to make to have a good race. When I am in the water I am focused on racing the person next to me and saying just keep going.”
That process seemed to work for the youngster who also swims at DCAC five to six times a week in the off-season along with meets every other weekend. She also lifts two times a week in order to build strength. It’s all about trying to get better.
“I stay motivated in hard times by remembering why I am swimming and my end goal,” she says. “To get where you want it’s not going to get easy and it’s something I say to myself a lot. Also, my teammates help me stay motivated knowing that we are all in it together.”
Kayce, 14, is the daughter of Kate and Bryce McAllister. She has a 4.0 GPA in the classroom and also plays water polo for the Dreadnaughts.
She has plenty of time to decide if she wants to swim at the next level – right now she is focused on getting better. But she does have some advice for any 8 year olds just diving into the pool for the first time.
“What I would tell to someone who is just starting swimming is it is going to get very hard physically and mentally but you always need to remember why you are doing it,” she says. “I would also say find people in swimming who make you happy because if you aren’t enjoying it, finding your motivation will be very hard.”
Sounds like some sound advice from someone who talks the talk and swims the swim.
Swimming photos courtesy of Ryan Maki Photography
