Cheyenne Mountain sophomore Pat Scally won the 200- and 500-yard freestyles at the Hornet Invitational, setting a meet record in the 500 with a time of 4:51.33 that broke a record set in 1992. Scally also swam legs of the winning 200 and 400 freestyle relays to lead the Indians to a second-place team finish. For his efforts, Scally is The Gazette’s Athlete of the Week.

How would your teammates describe you as an athlete?

I don’t know. I swim a lot. That’s the only sport I do. I’ve tried every other sport and I’m really bad at everything else (laughs). I played two seasons of baseball and didn’t hit the ball once, so swimming’s the only sport that’s really stuck with me. I do it a lot. I’m always in the pool. I try to push people.

When did you find out that you had broken the record?

Friday was prelims, so I swam the prelims and I was about 5 seconds or 2 seconds off. So it was a big focus to try and break it. I had memorized the time and so when I finished, I took off my goggles and I looked up and saw that I had broken it and I was really excited. I saw everyone at the other end of the pool jump up.

Do you have a routine that you do before a race?

I used to listen to my iPod, but it broke. It got water in it. Everybody makes fun of me, because I shake my arms out a lot. I stand up on the block shaking my arms out. Usually, I stretch and I used to listen to my iPod. I used to have my favorite songs, but no more. Actually I’m getting a new one. It’s coming in the mail, so it’s exciting.

What will you put on your iPod?

I listen to fast music. I hate listening to slow music before a race. Whatever I last listen to is in my head for that race. It really stinks when you get a bad song before the mile. It’s like ‘no, I have 64 laps of this left.’

What are your future plans as far as swimming?

I want to win state in high school. This year I want to place really high and I just want to win by my senior year. I want to swim Division I. That’s my big goal and then just see how far it takes me. I don’t know how far it’s going to take me, but I’m on board for the ride.

Who are some of the college prospects?

The dream is Stanford, but it’s fast. I’d have to drop a lot of time. I’m looking at Georgetown. I really just want to do Division I. Anywhere that’s going to give me a little money for it is good (laughs).

Who is your favorite superhero?

I like Spiderman. I like the Spiderman movies. I don’t really like Aquaman, because it’s like ‘Who wants to talk to a fish?’. Spiderman can shoot webs and stuff and I guess that’s cool. If I was a superhero, I’d want to do that.

What are your career goals?

I really want to be a doctor. I really want to be an oncologist. A lot of people in my family have had cancer and stuff. So, I think it’d be cool to do that kind of thing. Kind of like giving back. That’s another one of my lofty goals, but who knows? Maybe it’ll happen.

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