During the summer, many MCDS students took time off by going on vacation with their families or enrolling in sleep-away and pre-college camps. But a few students devoted nearly their entire summer to improving their athletic skills: Alexis Goya, Mick Lynott, and Channise Lewis.

Why spend the summer working so hard at sports when they could be relaxing after a difficult school year? They all love their sport and hope to be recruited into college.

Alexis Goya is a senior at Miami Country Day and is a lead swimmer for the MCDS swimming team. He has been swimming since he was seven years old. This summer, he worked as a lifeguard at the Miami Country Day pool and also trained harder than he ever has.

“I decided to train all summer because I really needed it for this high school season – my last one,” Alexis said.

He swam six days a week, Monday through Saturday, with double practices Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a total of nine practices a week. Each practice ran for two hours with an occasional weight lifting session, which spanned for an hour after practice three times a week. With all this practice, Alexis was able to cover 6,000 to 7,000 yards each practice. Some days he would swim a total of 11,000 yards. Alexis’s strongest event is the 100-meter butterfly, which is a total of 4 laps. His personal best is 52.9 seconds. He is very competitive and is trying to shave his time to 50.1 or 49.9 seconds by the end of the season.

“If I reach my goal, this would secure my place in almost any college that I would like,” Alexis said.

Alexis has been recruited by Stevenson, Wheaton, Boston University and Minnesota. His top choice right now is Boston University.

“My main goal is to try to get into college,” Alexis said. “I have put so much time into [swimming] and all this effort, I might as well use it to get into college. It would just be a dream come true.”

Alexis also has other ambitions. He hopes to beat the Miami Country Day School record in the 100-meter fly. The record is 50.3 seconds. If he breaks his goal time of a 50.1, he not only will be a strong prospect for college but the fastest butterfly swimmer MCDS has ever seen. He believes the weightlifting, swimming and perfecting of his underwater turns will all contribute to his success in the pool.

“Definitely competing over the summer helped me as a student athlete because my times are improving at a much faster pace,” Alexis said. “I am really excited to see how this championship season unfolds.”

Mick Lynott is a junior at Miami Country Day and the starting guard for the varsity basketball team. His journey to the point guard position was almost as quick as his crossover move.

Mick has been playing basketball since an early age. He started playing middle school JV basketball at the Cushman School when he was in the fourth grade. He moved up to middle school varsity when he was in the fifth grade. He joined Miami Country Day School’s varsity basketball team as an eighth grader. This would be highly unusual for most players, but not Mick.

During this summer Mick worked on his shooting and ball handling every day. He also balanced basketball with conditioning and lifting. The practices lasted 2.5 hours and sometimes there were two in one day. Mick also traveled to Naples, Florida, New Jersey, Atlanta and Las Vegas to show off his skills and compete with other high school basketball players across the country.

“All this training definitely helped me as an athlete because I got to go against a lot of top prospects, and it was a great way to see how I compare to other players around the country,” he said.

Mick is being recruited by Wofford and Presbyterian and hopes to win a state championship this year.

Channise Lewis is a senior at Miami Country Day School and one of the star players for the girls’ varsity basketball team. She has been on the team since the eighth grade and has helped the team win three state championships and the Dicks National Championship. This milestone had never been achieved by any of the school’s sports teams. It put the girls’ team on the map as one of the top high school basketball programs in the country.

During the summer, Channise stayed in shape by practicing five to six days a week. Each practice lasted two to three hours. She also showed her dedication by waking up at 6 a.m. on some days to work out with her older brother, known on campus as Coach Slim, who is one of the coaches for the girls’ team. She usually did conditioning or practiced shooting.

As part of her training program, Channise traveled to Georgia, South Carolina, New Orleans and Virginia with her AAU team, Essence. It is a travel team that helps high school girls obtain athletic scholarships to college.

“Competing this summer definitely helped me as a student athlete by developing time management skills,” she said. “It also made me more of a competitive athlete.”

Channise has been recruited by many colleges, including University of Miami, Florida State University, University of South Florida, Illinois University, Purdue University and Virginia Tech. Channise said she hopes to get a full scholarship and continue playing basketball in college.

For Channise, Mick and Alexis, working hard all summer may have been a great sacrifice, but it could pay off in the future with championships, records and scholarships.