While most high school graduates are spending time with family and friends, embarking on graduation trips, and preparing for departures to college, Windsor High School graduate, Jake Eccleston made the impressive journey to compete in the Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis where he finished within seconds of the top eight contenders, eliciting immeasurable pride from his family and friends.
Jake’s swimming career began because of his affinity for water and his tenacity. His mom enrolled him in a toddler swim class after struggling to keep four-year-old Jake out of the water during his sisters’ swim practices.
Desiring to advance his swimming skills beyond his age level, Jake persisted in swimming distances that were deemed outside his age range, impressing his parents and coaches when proving himself as he swam a 500-yard freestyle event at age eight, finishing with an amazing time. Mid-distance lengths becoming his preference, he developed a keen awareness of what needed to be done and what to demand of his body to achieve his swimming goals.
Winning state competitions at age twelve, Jake began competing nationally under the guidance of his club coach and mentor. Observing the intensity with which his rivals trained, Jake elevated his training regimen, leading him to win the 200m breaststroke, setting him apart as the Junior National Champion.
After receiving the distressing news that his coach was moving away, Jake made the difficult transition from his longtime team, the Loveland Swim Club to the Ft. Collins Area Swim Team.
Once settled, training for last year’s trial qualifications began, and things looked promising. But Jake sustained a life-changing injury resulting from a fluke golfing accident. Walking back from collecting a nearby ball, unaware of his buddy’s practice swing, he suffered a blow behind his right ear from the club. Hospitalized, he needed stitches and rehabilitation to relearn his sense of balance necessary for walking and certainly swimming. A feeling of constant spinning and a temporary bout with trauma-induced Bell’s palsy ensued. A coach with Bell’s palsy experience provided Jake with strategies to help manage the paralysis. Nationals only weeks away motivated Jake to resume training just two weeks after his accident. Jake managed to final in 200m breaststroke - an enormous feat after such a traumatic injury.
Later, Jake made the unfortunate discovery that he was permanently deaf in his right ear due to the accident. Still able to train and go to Futures, Jake was satisfied to finish the season. He then turned his focus to the Junior Nationals he had won the prior year, cognisant of his injury. “If I don’t get better than I was last year, then how much of this injury really affected me?” Placing fifth all-time, setting an official 200m breaststroke record for the Chicago pools, and being just a tenth of a second away from a new Junior Nationals record, he received his answer.
May 2024 included Conference and State meets and the definitive meet where Jake qualified for this year’s Olympic trials by a tenth of a second!
Graduating summa cum laude with a 4.197 GPA, Jake holds every swim record at Windsor High except one, is a six-time State Champion, a six-time All-American, a two-year Academic All-American, and holds the 4A State Record for the 100m breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley. He looks forward to contributing to the University of Louisville's swim team and studying computer science and engineering.
“Winning all seven events at the 12 and under State meet was a turning point.”- Jake Eccleston