Trey Hesser, a 2023 graduate, reminisced about breaking Chandler High’s Swim Team records and gave great advice to all aspiring athletes.
Trey started swimming at the age of five in Japan. At six years old, Trey and his family moved to California where Trey joined his first club team. Hesser said his favorite part about swimming has always been being able to make new friends and swim both with and against his amazing teammates. In high school, Trey took his classes at home but was able to continue swimming by joining the swim team at Chandler. He was on the team for all four years and completed incredible races. He broke the 500-Freestyle record which for all of the non-swimmers, that’s twenty laps of a 25-meter pool, during his senior year.
According to AZCentral, Hesser swam the race in 4 minutes and 31 seconds. Trey said the 500-Freestyle is his favorite event: “It’s not over super quickly plus it’s also more fun to watch.” While he was on the Chandler Swim Team, he was also a part of the Gold Medal Swim Team, a competitive club team, where he will be swimming all of this year before heading to college. Through this team, he had the opportunity to swim in the Olympic Trial Cuts where he would go to beat his records in the 800-Freestyle event earning sixth place. Trey never expected to beat any of these records; in fact, the first time he broke a record he thought he didn’t swim well at all. Turns out, it was one of the best swims Chandler has ever seen.
Coach Shannon Moxley, head girls’ swim coach, said that some years there are numerous records broken, while others there are none. Breaking a swim record may seem easy, but it is a very daunting task indeed.
To get to the point he is today, Trey said that the morning practices are hard but if the forty other people on his team can do it, so can he and that’s what inspires him to get up and go every day. When asked what helped him get to where he is today, he said, “My parents, coaches, teammates, and God have all helped me get to the point I am today.”
Trey got the opportunity to advise beginning swimmers; he said to trust both the process and your coaches, especially your coaches because they are the ones that know best and will help you get to the point you need to be at. One of his favorite strategies to grow as a swimmer that he highly recommended is to watch Olympic Swimmers do the races you will be completing and apply their techniques to your own.
Trey said to never give up and to keep going — after all, that’s how you’ll grow as a person and as an athlete.
