The star | Teen Ink

The star

April 27, 2016
By Hayden21 BRONZE, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Hayden21 BRONZE, Colorado Springs, Colorado
4 articles 13 photos 0 comments

Who is up at the blocks asked the announcer? He didn’t know at the time but it was Hayden Everhart, out of Arizona state university. He would soon become one of the best and most respected swimmers in the United States and in the world and this is his story. Hayden has been swimming since he was 6 and he now has been swimming 9 years. In between those 9 years he has shed bold and tears putting his life into becoming one of the best swimmers is the world. He did not make any records when he was young it was what he did in his later year is what amazed the world. He is from Colorado Springs and swam for many years.  In his college years he was a nobody on the Arizona state team. He stood out in the college championship meet. He was in signed up for the 50 free, mile, 50 back, 100 im, 100 free and the 100 back. So his first event was the 50 free. So as he stepped up to the block they were all talking about all the guys next to him. So as the officials said take your mark Hayden got down and when the beep went off he took off the block. He went so far before he touched the water he almost hit the flags. All of a sudden he took off. The water was splashing so much the crowd couldn’t see him. By the time he got to the wall he was 10 seconds past the league record. His time was 20.01 the previous time was 25 second so he added some time before he touched the wall. He was the man to watch after that event. He turned so big that espy actually added a segment where they talked about just swimming. In all of his events he won except for the 100 im where he disqualified on the breaststroke. He had only broke 2 records but he was the man to watch for the next 20 years. He was the most amazing swimmer to come out of as and under the training of Michael Phelps the previous best swimmer in the world they started their mission to the Olympics and many many more gold medals. Today Hayden suffered a huge loss family wise. 3 hours after his Olympic win his best friend Josh plush had died in a fatal crash who josh also had a scholarship to Arizona too.
Chapter 2: The meet at the next meet Hayden devoted to wear joshes cap number and cap at his next swim meet. That next meet was the Olympic trials. So as he promised he wore his cap and he was signed up for one event his favorite event could determine his Olympic life or not. Next to him was an open lane the lane josh was supposed to be in if he hadn’t died. So Hayden waited for the beep and took off on his 100 free. The time he had to beat was 21.35. In the Olympic trials they used an Olympic sized pool and one length of the pool equals a 50. By the time he got passed his first 50 and he was behind the record by 10 seconds. This was one of the greatest races of his career because of what happened next. In 4th place he sped up and turned on his legs and just went off. He all of a sudden jumped from 4th place to 2nd place in a close race with the guy next to him. He was close to a tie with the guy next to him when they touched the wall Hayden won by one tenth of a second. His time was 20.01.Every swimmer looks up and pumps their fist and celebrates after a win and a record but Hayden just swam over and shook the other guy’s hand and get out of the pool and walk toward his seat on the bleacher next to his other asu swimmers and coaches. By doing that he showed class and he respect. Hayden the next day learned that josh was involved with a drunk driving crash that killed him. He drove right into a ditch and was carried away by the stream. He wasn’t found until 3 hour after Hayden had won his event the week before.
Chapter 3: The letter
As you must think the letter is maybe a letter to the Olympics it is about something else that will be a life changer for him. Hayden was sitting at his house in oro valley, Arizona. He later went outside to get a letter when he got back inside of his house there was a letter that stood out. It was a regular sized letter and it was neon green. He saw it from one of his fans and he was afraid of what it would say. Maybe a death threat, or a motivational letter. When he peeled it open is was a letter that was from a company he didn’t notice. It turned out to be swim Arizona.com. They wanted Hayden to sponsor them. As he read through the letter they said they wanted Hayden to help promote swimming all over the world. They were offering him 14 thousand dollars annually. So he expected it heading into the Olympics in Fiji. So he bought his plane ticket to Fiji and got ready to go. When he got off the plane in Fiji he smelt the air and knew he was going to do amazing at the Olympics this year.
Chapter 4: The sickness
Just a day before the opening ceremony he came down with a deadly disease called appendicitis. That means when your appendix explodes it can kill you in 24-48 hours. He immediately went to the hospital after one of his other teammates had come down with a sickness from drinking the water that was not filtered. Hayden got his surgery and it was out but the problem was that Hayden was going to be in the hospital for 3 days missing the opening ceremony, 1st day, and the second day. Hayden was not swimming on the 1st day but he was swimming on the second day he was fighting to get back to the pool on the second and first day of his Olympic career. He fought so hard he disobeyed the doctors’ orders and showed at his second day of the Olympics to swim his favorite and only event of the day, The 100 free. So showing up at lane 4 was Hayden Everhart, the man who has been through so much just to get her, loss and sickness. Is what the announcer from CBS said when he showed up at his lane. Something weird about Hayden was that he was wearing 2 caps. Joshes cap (above) and Hayden’s asu cap under joshes cap. How he could tell is that is because he could see his last name plush on under



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