photo by: Photo courtesy Jocelyn Wilson

Free State senior Jocelyn Wilson committed to South Dakota State University to continue her swim career.

It took a long time for Jocelyn Wilson to stop trying to be a distance swimmer. As a competitive person with three older siblings who all swam distance, it wasn’t easy for her to switch to sprint races.

The decision eventually paid off. Wilson, a swimmer for Free State High School, will continue her swim career at the Division I level at South Dakota State University.

Family and swimming have always come together for Wilson. She started when she was 4 years old because her older sisters had started swimming. From the parents to the kids, they are an active family with swimming at the center.

So when she visited SDSU, the family dynamic of the team stood out beyond what she saw from other visits.

“When they all get together to eat, they push all the tables together like one big family table,” Wilson said. “They all eat together, like a family.”

Before she moves to Brookings, South Dakota, Wilson has one final year with her club team and her school team. In her last season competing at the high school level, she’s working to make it her best one.

Wilson competes in the 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 individual medley and the 50 freestyle. Those sprint races are very different from what her family had typically done, but she found a love for them and the mentality of those races. In long-distance races, swimmers have to be more mindful of their pace, their progress and more. What Wilson discovered she loves about sprints is that she just needs to attack. T

hey quickly became her favorite races.

“It didn’t hurt that I was good at them,” Wilson said.

Through working with club and school coaches, Wilson grew as a swimmer in the sprint events to the point that she became a serious Division I swimming prospect. There wasn’t one sudden epiphany that she was capable of competing at that level, but after years of watching girls at the pool graduate and get scholarships to swim at the next level, it inspired her to follow in their footsteps.

The Free State Firebirds are fresh off a season placing third in the state. Wilson is ready for her final year with the team, a group that she considers to also be like a family.

“It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time,” Wilson said. “The nerve-wracking part is that I do know that I finish high school this season. But the exciting thing is I get to enjoy and have more fun racing. I’m still focused on getting the best times and all of that, but you can’t be too serious — you have to enjoy it.”

Wilson is currently in her club swim season and will start her final high school season in the spring. For both, she’s hoping for her last one to be her fastest in the pool. But more than that, she’s going to be having a good time doing what she loves with the family she has built through the pool.

Then, she’s off to chase her dreams with her new Jackrabbit family.