For Weston Credit ‘16, swimming is a lot about just keeping your head down, whether it’s in the pool or out. One of the philosophies as a captain of the team this year comes from coach Scott Walker, and it isn’t very difficult to remember: stay humble.

“It keeps [Credit] more focused at the task at hand,” Walker said. “It also becomes more rewarding. You come across as being a legitimate athlete when you don’t take success for granted.”

This style has seen plenty of use with a standout swimmer like Credit in the pool on an up-and-coming team that broke four school records last year at sectionals. One such record in the 100-yard breaststroke earned Credit sixth place at the state tournament last year with a time of 57.70, and he has even cut that down to a 56.78 since the end of the season.

“The people I swim with motivate me more than just myself,” Credit said. “I really couldn’t do it alone. They’re always pushing me to improve.”

Credit joined and excelled on the team even as a freshman, where he was the only swimmer his age to go to sectionals. He started breaking records his sophomore year when he swam a 59.29 to top LT’s list of fastest 100-yard breaststroke times.

“I’m mentally a lot stronger than I was my freshman year,” Credit said. “I wasn’t that good, but after that I really got into it more and was always looking up to the upperclassman swimmers. Now being in their position, it’s pretty cool.”

As far as looking at the upcoming season, the goal is to be able to finish on top in the 100-yard breaststroke at the state tournament, Credit said.

Teammate and fellow captain Chris Phillips ‘16 has been swimming breaststroke alongside Credit for four years now and attributes a lot of his success to Credit’s work ethic which only pushes Phillips and others on the team harder.

“We’re so close in speed now because I strive to get closer to [Credit’s] times,” Phillips said. “We both drop time together, we compete together, we swim against each other and that’s a huge aspect of motivation.”

Besides just the 100-yard breaststroke, Credit also takes part in the 200-meter individual medley (IM), the breaststroke portion of the Medley relay and the 400-meter relay. While the last two relays are a team event, Credit has swum the 200 meter IM at a blazing 1:55.25.

Even when it’s not the months of November through February, Credit practices everyday with Westmont swim club and has since he was 10 years old.

Credit’s swimming career will extend for at least four more years after he committed to the University of Iowa on Oct. 15 to join some resilient Big Ten competition. Credit chose Iowa over his parents’ alma mater, Denison University, where they both swam competitively to fill in for the Hawkeyes who are losing their three key contributors in the breaststroke to graduation.

“Swimming Big Ten has always been a dream of mine,” Credit said. “I just felt at home there.”