ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Jake Meinsenheimer

Dr. Phillips junior Jake Meinsenheimer set meet records in the 200-meter freestyle and 500-meter free Sept. 26 at the Spruce Creek Invitational: 1:47.46 in the 200 and 4:51.50 to beat his brother John’s 500 meet record by a second. In DP’s 400-meter freestyle relay vs. Olympia Sept. 30, Jake made up two body lengths to win by 0.27 seconds, after victories in the 200-meter free and the 500-meter free.

What was it like to set records in the Spruce meet?

I made sure to warm up as best I could. During the race, I gave everything I had, because one of the records was held by my older brother. I really wanted to break that one so I could have it over him. During the race, I felt like I was going to break it, because in the 200, I had someone else to race against who was almost the same time, so I knew if I could beat him, I would get the record. And then (in) the 500, I could just pace myself and look at my coach and see what signals he was giving me, so I could know if I was on pace.

What has it been like to swim with your older brother, John, and younger brother, Max, on the same team?

It’s good because there’s more competition to beat them than with someone else, another swimmer. When my older brother was on the team, we swam the same events, so now I can kind of see how I’m doing against him. I always try to beat his times. It’s good to have that to compete against.

What would you say is your favorite memory as a member of this swim team?

It would be probably states freshman year, because we had a lot of the team that went. We actually had enough people that we had to rent a whole bus to go. It felt more fun going with the whole team, rather than just a few people.

Is freestyle the stroke you enjoy most?

Yeah, I usually only swim freestyle at practice. It’s just the one you learn first, and I’m just better at it than the other (strokes).

When did you first get into swimming?

Right when I was born, because my dad was a big swimmer, and he had me learn to swim before I learned how to walk, so I was always on a swim team. And then I started getting serious about swimming around eighth grade, before I went into high school.

What can you tell me about your dad’s “Lucky’s Lake Swim”?

It’s interesting. There’s usually around a hundred people that come to our house every Saturday to swim the lake, and usually at least 30 every other day. I don’t do it as often as I probably should.

What’s it like living with that where it happens?

Well, I usually sleep through it. (laughs)

What is your favorite subject in school?

I’m taking a programming class — I just enjoy doing it and figuring out how to solve problems in code. 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to program for video games, and I also play underwater hockey sometimes — they have it here at the Y, too — but I don’t have a lot of time with swimming.

What kind of video games do you like?

First-person shooters and RPGs, more like fantasy.

Do you see programming as something you’d like to pursue in college or a career?

Yeah, probably.

Do you have plans to continue swimming in college?

Probably — it depends how I do this season. If I do really good, I’ll probably try to swim Division I, but if not, I’ll probably not swim and just play water polo.

Is there any meet in particular you’re looking forward to this season?

The state meet, because that’s the one we train for all year. All the other meets are just practice for that.

What are some of the goals you have for you and for your team?

I want to get top eight in both my events and try to break the records for my school. For my team, I want to try to get one of our relays to states for the guys.