By Chris Cox

Wichita East senior Jackson Kleeman was a little later than most to start competitive swimming but he quickly caught up to the pack.

“I only really got interested in swimming my freshman year of high school when I saw some big improvements in my swimming,” he admits. “With my improvement and the excitement around the competitions, that really got me in the swimming competitive spirit.”

It’s that competitiveness in swimming that has kept Jackson in the water and helped him grow to love the sport.

“I’m fairly competitive,” Kleeman says. “So, it’s something I can put a lot of my energy in. It’s also really nice because swimming is a sport where I can stay really fit and have a lot fun doing it.”

With the number of quality swimmers in the Wichita area, Kleeman says he’s motivated by others and pushes himself to get to the top.

“There’s so many kids from around the city that are motivated to swim and that helps keep me motivated,” he says. “Swimming is also something I consider myself to be pretty good at and that helps when I’m trying to work out a little harder or swim a little faster.”

He knows that hard work will be needed this season if he wants to achieve his goals. Goals that, he admits, are a little undefined at this point.

“There’s times I would like to be going,” he says. “Maybe shave a second off my 100 fly time from recent meets. That would be nice. But I just want to really see what I can do my senior year. I’m still unsure if I’ll swim in college so this could be my last year to see what I can do.”

Outside of the pool, Jackson plays violin in the Wichita East orchestra and is a member of the student council. Following graduation this spring, Jackson plans to attend college, and would like to swim, but he doesn’t have any firm plans yet.

“Nothing is set in stone,” he says. “I’d like to stay in Kansas. That would be pretty nice, staying close to home. I’m not sure what field I’d want to go into but something STEM related sounds like my thing.”