Potter-Dix High School senior Jayden Shoemaker has only been able to train and compete in swimming about two months each year – with a club team in Sidney – but that hasn’t stopped her from becoming one of the top swimmers in western Nebraska. It also hasn’t prevented her from having a chance to achieve her dream of competing in college. That’s because in January, the highly-driven Shoemaker signed a national letter of intent to compete in swimming at UNK.
JEFF FIELDER Editor
POTTER – For Jayden Shoemaker of Potter, there’s really not a time period in her life when she doesn’t remember being in a swimming pool.’
“My mom [Nikki Shoemaker] signed me up for ‘Mommy and Me’ swimming lessons when I was 11 months old, and I’ve loved being in the pool ever since then,” she said.
She started to become more serious about it from a competitive standpoint when she was 8. She recalls her mom asking her if she would like to be part of the Sidney Stingrays Swim Club, located about 20 miles east of Potter.
“My mom swam there when she was younger, and her siblings swam there, too, so my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to try it out and see if I liked it,” Jayden said. “I was all for it.’”
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