The moment Sydney Schoeck stepped into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on June 16, the magnitude of the week ahead started to sink in.
The 15-year-old Chesterfield native found herself alone in the football stadium turned indoor swimming pool, where over 1,000 of the nation's best swimmers competed in the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials from June 15-23.
Schoeck, who recently completed her sophomore year at Westminster Christian Academy, took it all in and then plunged into the pool, setting into motion a memorable week.
"Nobody was there, but the pool was still open, so I swam," Schoeck said. "That was super cool to me, that I (was) literally in the Olympic trials pool by myself in Lane 4, which is where all the Olympians are swimming. ... I just got lucky enough to be literally the only person in the pool for like an hour."
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Schoeck spent that hour preparing like an Olympian, taking time to focus on the two events that awaited in her first appearance at an Olympic Trial — the 200-meter backstroke and 400 individual medley. The dynamic swimmer earned a top-40 finish in each event, coming up short of the 2024 Paris Olympics but gaining invaluable experience at the national level.
One of 14 junior swimmers in the event, Schoeck placed 24th out of 40 swimmers in the 400 IM with a time of 4 minutes, 52.11 seconds, on June 17, which was second-best in her heat. She followed that with a 37th-place finish out of 59 competitors in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:14.00 on June 20, putting up the third-best time in her heat.
The performances, although impressive for her age and experience, did not satisfy Schoeck, who had her sights on setting personal bests.
"I was honestly very disappointed in how I swam," Schoeck said. "I was still so happy that I made it to the meet (and) for my accomplishment, but I was just not the happiest overall of my times. But I know I'm kind of happy because whenever something's not going right, then I know what I need to fix in the future to make it better."
Schoeck, who won a pair of individual state titles for Westminster in 2023, fell short of reaching the personal bests she had set just in the months prior when she qualified for the Olympic Swim Trials.
At the 2024 Columbia Spring Sectionals on March 14 at the Mizzou Aquatics Center in Columbia, Missouri, Schoeck had a personal-best time of 2:12.31 in the 200 backstroke to make the cut for the Olympic Trials. She then recorded a personal best in the 400 IM (4:49.44) at the Meet Me in St. Louis Invite on May 31, just weeks before the Olympic Trials, to seal a spot in the 400 IM in Indianapolis.
Those times proved insurmountable for Schoeck in one of the highest-level competitions of her young career, but they represented yet another dive forward for the up-and-coming talent who actually began her rise to prominence with a disdain for the pool.
"She was actually pretty resistant to (swimming)," said Autumn Schoeck, Sydney's mother. "I would take her to her summer swim team every morning, and she threw such fits about getting into the water. ... Once she actually started doing it and she got into the water, there was a natural gift there."
Schoeck's rise to swimming excellence began when she joined Rockwood Swim Club to swim competitively at the age of 7. She quickly became a splashing success, exploding onto the scene with her talent and upside.
Schoeck then emerged in 2023 as one of state's top freshmen at Westminster, earning individual state championships in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM as a freshman. She also swam a leg of the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay, which finished second and third at state. Behind her efforts, Westminster captured Missouri's Class 1 team championship for the first time in school history.
In the year-plus following that state championship season, though, Schoeck has made a pair of tough yet important choices to set herself up better for the future — forgoing high school swim and switching clubs.
"A big part of that journey was coming to Westminster," Autumn Schoeck said. "She absolutely loved her high school swim year, but she chose not to swim again for Westminster, knowing that her immediate goals of trying to make trials and her recruiting (process), and her two best events — 400 IM and 200 — are not offered in high school. She couldn't really train for those and couldn't give up three to four months of training for her two biggest events."
In January, Sydney Schoeck joined the Clayton Shaw Park Tideriders to train under CSP head coach and executive director Dave McCrary, who quickly became a mentor for her.
"I think for good athletes, it comes down to the feel of the water," McCrary said. "She definitely has a very good feel for the water in terms of her strokes (and) how she catches water with her hands and arms ... Compared to other athletes who have weak strokes, she's really good at all four strokes. And I think she's a competitor."
Anchored by that unique skillset and competitive toughness, Sydney provided a glimpse of what is to come for one of the youngest swimmers at the Olympic Trials.
Among swimmers born in 2008 or later, Sydney Schoeck had the third-best time in the 400 IM and fifth-best in the 200 backstroke. In both events, she posted her best lap in the opening 50 meters before smoothing out to a slower, more consistent pace the rest of the way in a pair of the most demanding events.
"She did not come home from there broken-hearted," Autumn Schoeck said. "She didn't even shed tears over not hitting her times. I think it just kind of energized her, and now she's focused on what she needs to do going forward. She feels like, 'I have this first huge meet experience under my belt. Now, I know what it's like, and I'm ready to go do the next one.' "
With two years of high school and college ahead of her, the experience will serve as a foundation for Sydney Schoeck's career.
As the teen-ager reflected on the magnitude of the week, the lasting memory will be when she walked out onto the Lucas Oil Stadium after her final event and realized she was not alone on her swim toward stardom.
"After my 200 backstroke, I went back into the stadium," Sydney Schoeck said, "and (my favorite moment) was seeing that huge group of people that had came and watched me.
"I'm just so grateful to have a community of swimmers, family and friends that are always there for me."