At some point next February, Andrew McKissick's swimming career will end, and the early-morning wake-ups, long hours in the pool and stress of competition will be in the past. But so will the years of memories he has forged at the UMBC Aquatic Complex. So will his chance to put a stamp on his college career. So will victories like the one he earned last Sunday in the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, a 4.4-mile swim across the bay that he won for the third time in four years.
"It's on my mind almost every day," McKissick said.
McKissick, a rising senior at UMBC, has trained at the Retriever Aquatic Club since he was 7. He worked with Retrievers coach Chad Cradock his entire childhood, and when it came time to pick a college, he didn't see any reason to go elsewhere.
"It's just home," he said. "If it ain't broke, don't break it. I've loved every day I've spent there my entire life. If I didn't, I would have left."
McKissick broke the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim record with a time of 1 hour, 24:15 minutes. The victory has become routine for McKissick, who first won the race the summer before he started college in 2013.
This time, though, McKissick hopes a standout season in Catonsville follows. He has struggled with distance swimming during the academic year, and while he can't put his finger on exactly why, he believes he "slacked off" in the summer of 2013 and is still working to recapture the success he had in high school at Mount Saint Joseph.
"I think it sheds light on the fact that there's still hope going into my last year of college," McKissick said. "I can still get back to the level I once was at, and improve that significantly."