Clyde Crouse, swimming, Cypress Creek: The freshman became the first conference champion in any sport for the first-year school, winning the 500 free in 4:56.35 at the SAC meet.

Two record-breaking high school times are below for comparison.

Boys Ind Jack Conger Good Counsel, MD 4:13.87 02-09-13

Boys Public Jeff Kostoff Upland H.S., CA 4:16.39 05-14-83

Quinn began answering his questions stating, “My real name is Clyde E. Crouse, V.  My parents were going to name me Quint, but my mom thought Quint Crouse was too hick so they went with Quinn.”

Who inspires you and why?  My club coach Peter Banks.  He has helped me realize my potential and keeps pushing me to my goals.  He never takes it easy on me, because he believes I can go places and make my dreams a reality.

What does your training regimen look like? Our coaches put us through a series of workouts over breaks and summers to push us even further. I usually swim about 5,000 yards each practice and also do dry land workouts.  Food is a huge part of my day too.  I eat about 3500 calories a day, I don’t like junk food or fast food.

 What were your goals when you began the season? What other sports have you participated in?  I did soccer when I was little, but liked swimming better.  My goal for the short course season is to make it to All-Stars in March.  My goal for high school season is States, but it is going to be really tough since we are such a small school and compete against the private schools.  I’m definitely planning on making it to Regionals!

I still have a while to go to make it to the Olympic Trials.  The next big goal I’m hoping to get is to make it to Speedo Futures and then to Jr. Nationals.  I’m hoping to make these times within the next 12 months.  Those times are slightly slower than the Olympic times.

My song right now is Desiigner – Outlet, even though my mother can’t stand it.

Pre-Race Rituals? Simple stretches slapping my muscles.  When I’m on the block before I jump in I clap 5 times and rub my cap and shake my arms down.

 Favorite event? relays are especially fun.  You get a big adrenaline rush.

How do you stay motivated?  Having fun with my friends and teammates.  Getting faster times that are closer to my Olympic dream help too.

Fun fact: My favorite color is Pink. When I have a son I want him to be the 6th (Clyde E. Crouse, VI).  I love video games, karaoke, sushi.Favorite Olympian: Katie Ledecky because of her events and her swimming style.  As an example, on a distance event (500 Freestyle or above) she does not kick much for the first part of the race and then starts kicking for a fast hard finish.

Training story: This summer my family went to Europe for 2 weeks.  I was only able to get in 2 practices while on vacation – one was on my own and the other My club coach hooked me up with a club team in Dublin.  I practiced at the College of Dublin and met 2 swimmers that were heading to Worlds the following week. It was cool meeting another world-class coach.

On Quinn from his mom:  Quinn fell in love with swimming at age 10.  He loved it from his very first lesson in the water.  Since then he has qualified for FLAGS (Florida Age Group Swimming aka Jr. Olympics for Florida) for both short course and long course each year.  He wakes up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 3:50 AM to attend morning practice from 4:45-5:45 and barely makes it home in time to catch the bus.  He also practices 5 days a week after school and on Saturday’s if he does not have club meets.  His coaches continue to praise his hard work. His goals are to make an Olympic Trial Time (also known as a “cut”) for 2020 Olympics and actually make the 2024 Olympic Team.  He does all of this with a smile on his face!  He loves doing what he does.  He has continued to keep honor roll as a student and make time for his friends during his limited spare time.  Quinn was very excited about High School swimming and said he “wanted to do well at school and make CCMHS proud of him”.