Lake City’s Blank determined to make waves in swimming

If you happen to walk past a young man in a Lake City High sweatshirt and you get a whiff of chlorine, chances are it’s Nick Blank.

Blank, a senior who had four top-six finishes at the YMCA National Swimming Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier this month, spends a lot of time in the pool.

And he gets up early to do it.

“Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I get up at 4 and drive to Spokane and work out for a half an hour,” said Blank, who competes for the Spokane Area Swim Team and says he looks forward to the day when local swimmers can train at the Kroc Community Center, with its competition-ready pool. “Then I swim for an hour and 15 minutes.

“Monday through Friday, I swim from 3:30 to 6 in the afternoon, and then on Saturdays I swim from 7 to 9 and work out from 9 to 11.”

So, with all the training, competitions and a full schedule of school and homework, what does a guy like Blank do for fun?

“When I get the chance, I like to just hang out with my friends,” he said. “A lot of my friends kind of get irritated because I don’t see them very often outside of school.”

Blank’s trade-off for spending less time with friends is that he gets to pursue a dream of competing in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing – which means a trip the Olympic Trials in Omaha next year.

To get there, he knows he’ll have to swim a lot better than he has.

“I don’t think I’ve ever swam as well as I could have,” said Blank, who points to a rare relay victory this year over perennial powerhouse Moscow as the highlight of his prep career and a seventh-place finish in the 800 freestyle at the 2005 Junior Nationals as his biggest moment in larger competitions. “Knowing that other people are out there training harder than I am makes me want to work harder.

“I just hate losing – more than anything – and that’s what keeps me going.”

Blank, who won a pair of state titles for Lake City last fall, said he’ll attend the University of Nevada Las Vegas this fall and compete for the Rebels swim team.

“I know their program is really focused on the team aspect,” Blank said. “I know two or three people that go there, and I know some other people that go to other schools, and the people that go to the other schools are really jealous of how team-oriented the Las Vegas team is.

“So I’m really excited to go and train with those guys.”