Last year in 2016, Horizon Honors made a new sport available to high school students: the swim and dive team. This year, however, one student used this opportunity to become the first swimmer in school history to qualify for the state meet. Caileigh Burdette, sophomore, qualified in the 500-yard freestyle. The meet was held on Nov. 3 to Nov. 4 at Phoenix Country Day School. I had the chance to interview Burdette this week after she made school history.

The Horizon Sun: What is your favorite part of swim?

Caileigh Burdette: My favorite part of swimming is all the different people I get to meet.

The Sun: For how many years have you been swimming?  

CB:  I have been swimming for seven years.

The Sun: What is your favorite stroke?

CB: My favorite stroke is freestyle.

The Sun: What is your favorite event?

CB: My favorite event is probably the 200-freestyle relay.

The Sun: Can you describe what practices are like?

CB: We practice every morning during the week from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

The Sun: Do you have a pre-meet routine?

CB: My pre-meet routine is to plug in my headphones and listen to my favorite music.

The Sun: How did you feel about qualifying for state?

CB: Qualifying for state was a really fun and exciting experience and I’m glad I got to share the news about making it to state with my teammates.

The Sun: Were you scared or confident going into the 500 free? How were you feeling?

CB:  I was pretty nervous being that this was a giant, important meet that I was swimming at for the first time.

The Sun: Do you have any plans for this line of sports in the future?

CB: I want to continue swimming in high school and maybe then continue that into swimming in college.

Swim is a very grueling sport both mentally and physically, so Horizon Honors is proud of Caileigh Burdette. Also, with so many other skilled athletes on the team, we expect to see many more state qualifiers in the near future. Until then, “just keep swimming.”