Drying off after warm-ups, junior swimmer Callahan Eckardt plugs in his headphones and does his dry land stretches. The events are called up one by one. As the 500 meter freestyle race is called, Eckardt steps up onto the block and prepares to dive in.

Eckardt has been swimming for 12 years and is currently preparing for his second year on the high school team. Eckardt has several goals for the school team this year.

“I hope we could qualify a relay or two for state,” Eckardt said. “I’d also like to see us place in the top three at league.”

Along with goals set for the team, Eckardt also has his own personal goals set.

“I want to break 5 minutes in the 500 freestyle and 1:50 in the 200 freestyle, along with placing higher than seventh in state,” Eckardt said.

Eckardt has had to make adjustments to his diet for as long as he has been swimming.

“I watch everything I eat: I try to stay away from as much processed food as I can,” Eckardt said. “It increases from 4,000 to 6,000 or 8,000 calories daily.”

Eckardt takes the standard of three main meals a day and expands it.

“[My diet] basically consists of a normal breakfast, a snack, a really big lunch, another snack, then another snack after practice, dinner and then another dinner after second practice,” Eckardt said.

Along with changing his diet, Eckardt also puts in extra practice besides just swimming.

“I go to two practices a night, high school practice and club practice,” Eckardt said. “I also do weights a couple days a week and cross training, which is running or biking on the weekends.”

In a typical week, Eckardt attends around nine full practices, swimming up to 30,000 to 35,000 yards.

“Practices are normally two to three hours long,” Eckardt said. “High school is around 3,000 yards swam, while club is upwards of 5,000 yards.”

As swim is a physically demanding sport, it is also demanding mentally.

“I’m a competitive person and I don’t like when people pass or catch up to me,” Eckardt said. “I tell myself this is what makes you better and if you’re not doing this everyone else is getting better.”