This 10-Year-Old Swimmer Is Faster Than Michael Phelps Was

Being as fast as Michael Phelps, I was like, I wanna get more. That's crazy. To get motivated to go even faster. The work that I put in today, tomorrow, the work I put in yesterday, all builds up to the opportunity to maybe win down the road, pushing myself to where I'm almost vomiting. No way. Yeah. You just love that. Yeah. So where was the moment of your journey, where it flipped for you that you wanted to go? All in on swimming from South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spanel, founder of Get Indiana. And I will be your host for today's conversation. getindiana.com is your one-stop shop for everything Indiana. From festival and event guides, to blog posts covering hidden gems, local businesses, small towns, and more. Check it out and learn something new about the Hoosier state@getindiana.com. And don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter right there at the top. My guest today soon will not need an introduction. Gabriel Brown is a 10-year-old competitive swimmer from Greenfield, Indiana. He has climbed the National Age Group rankings, setting multiple Indiana Swimming 10 & Under records. Gabe is part of the Fishers Area Swimming Tigers (FAST) and is currently the number one ranked 10-year-old swimmer in the United States of America. This kid is fast. We, we were talking a little bit about it before, before getting into the episode. And he is setting records on records and is faster than some of the most well-known swimmers were when they were his age. I'm really excited to dive into the competitive world of 10-year-old swimming and learn a little bit more about you, Gabe. Welcome to the show, man. So, the thing about podcasts is that, uh, you know, we get to sit and chitchat about anything. We can talk all I mean. Obviously all things swimming, but I wanna know about how a 10-year-old athlete competes at the highest level. Like, talk to me about what does your routine look like, uh, to train to become the number one 10-year-old swimmer in the nation? Well, um, first of all, I, uh, swim two hours a day, six days a week, two hours a day. So is that one two hour session or six? What, or or two one hour sessions. That's one two hour session. So one two hour session. So you're, are you, are you a morning guy or an afternoon guy? Afternoon guy. Um, oh, there we go. I don't want, since I'm so young, I don't want, um. Morning practice, Get IN the way of my sleep because my morning practice is at five 30 and I live 30 minutes away, so I have to wake up at 4 45 if I want to go. Wow, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, a 10-year-old boy needs to sleep for sure. So you're in the pool for two hours a day, six days a week. So is that like, and is that all year round? Most of the time. Yeah. Um, I, I think this was like the, one of the years where I took a two week break. Um. After zones and then I got right back into it. How was the two week break? What did you do during your time off? I wouldn't consider it swimming, but we have a pool at home, so, and we just goofed around, had fun. Ah, so in your time away from swimming, you spent more time in the water? No, I, I still chilled and had fun. Yeah, that's, that's fair. Okay. Yeah. I also, work out, uh, five days a week. Um, like lifting weights? Yeah. One hour. What? Tuesdays and Thursdays are lifting weights. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are, um, swim strong Dryland What's that mean? There's a company that set, like, puts a bunch of activities Yeah, like exercises that help with swimming planks and pushups. Oh, so it's like a little like calisthenic type workout? Yeah, so that's 11 workouts a week. Hmm. Do you enjoy that? Yeah, but sometimes I have practices where I can't like be around my friends, but I know it'll pay off like. I love going to practice because I can be around my friends. Yeah. That just makes it fun. That's an interesting understanding to have as a 10-year-old, you know, like the work that you're doing today, you know, it, I mean, the average 10-year-old, you know, if you gave them a choice, they'd probably wanna just play Fortnite on the couch all day, right? Yeah. Like if you, if all things were equal and at the end you could still be like an Olympic gold medalist, would you rather be in the pool or would you rather be. You know, I mean, I'd be in the pool, not as much as I would be, but yeah. So where was the moment of your journey that, where it flipped for you that you wanted to go all in on swimming? So when I started with Greenfield, before I moved to FAST, my coach told my dad that. Once I got a, like once I got a state cut at seven. What does that mean? I got, uh, I qualified for state at seven, my first state cut at seven years old. You qualified for state in the 10 & Under? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you're young at that point. Yeah. Um, that's pretty cool. My coach told my dad this, this kid's gonna be something. And then my dad told me that to gimme some motivation and then. Once I was eight, I started qualifying for zone cut. What zone state is, um, an A standard and then there's a double A, and then AAA is a zone. So it's like. Way harder than getting state. And I got it in six, all six events that I wanted to go for. Oh, is that like hitting a time? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Six events. How does the process of becoming the number one ranked 10-year-old swimmer in the nation? Like what goes, like, is there like a meet where they bring all the 10 year olds from across the nation together and you swim it or There's not one singular meet where like people from, um. California and Indiana go against each other, but there is a meet where like. A part of the US go against each other. It's called Mid-States All-Star Championships. I just had that meet, um, uh, earlier in January. How did that go? I did really well. I got records in all six events that I swam. Records, personal records, personal records, and meet records. What's your poison here? What, what kind of events are we talking? Like what do you swim? So, 50 backstroke, it's where you on your back and you start? Yeah, just it's like freestyle but reversed. Okay, got you. Um, a hundred backstroke. Yeah, a hundred freestyle. It's where you like are on your stomach and you start pulling water. Is this, is this where you start pulling water and then where you're like breathing out the left? Yeah. Yeah. And then you put, okay, yeah. Yeah. 200 freestyle. Um, I would do 500 freestyle, but they don't have that at mid states down is 50 in a, in an Olympic sized pool. Down and back is a hundred, but so down is 50. Okay. The US does short course, so down, uh, down and back would be a 50 if you're doing short course. What was yours? I was down and back. Okay, so that's on the 50 back. You're just like back all the way down. You have to do one rotation or one turn. Flip turn, yeah. Yeah. Nice. Flip turn and then come back. Then I have my 100 individual medley, IM for short. Oh, this is where you do the styles. Yeah. You do butterfly. Yeah. And then you do, you do a turn, and then you do backstroke, and then you, um, do breaststroke. It's where you, like, it's hard to explain, but it's, yeah. You have to like come up and outta the water, right? Yeah. You, it's come outta the water. Wait, which one's butterfly? Your hands go over the top. Now this is what I've always wondered about swimming. How do they know if you. Like switch, like how do they, like who's watching you to be like, oh, his arms didn't go up high enough. The referees, there's um, there's usually, uh, at a really high level meet, there's usually like three referees on one side. And do people get disqualified for that? Oh yeah. I got disqualified at state one time for no way doing, uh, two underwater kicks on accident for my a hundred breaststroke. For my underwaters, and they're just looking for that one kick. And on the second kick, you're outta there. Yeah. No, you're not out. You finish the race and then a referee comes up to you and says, your time doesn't count. This might be a little bit before your time, but where a guy like celebrated in a lane with another guy. Yes, I've seen that. And it got kicked out. Yeah. He, um, went over to the lane before everybody was, uh, finished and he he got booted. Yeah. When did you learn how to swim? Like, I feel like most kids tenure. I don't know if I learned how to swim, maybe when I was 10. Competitive or no. I'm like, I'm like keeping yourself alive in the water without assistance. Probably four, but I started swim lessons at three. No way. Okay, but this wasn't like swimming on a team or anything? No, I started competitive at six. Okay. So you learn how to swim at four, then you start competitively swimming at six, and then qualified for state. At seven. At seven in a state where it wasn't just seven year olds. It was 7, 8, 9, and 10 year olds. I don't quite know, but I might have been the only 7-year-old there. It's not a common thing usually. Yeah, there's usually a couple eight year olds, a lot of nine year olds, and a lot of 10 year olds. Okay. Wow. Talk to me about the first race you won. Take me to the moment. Paint the picture for me of the first race you won in swimming. The first time I got a zone cut. That's the first, that's one of the first times I've. I won. It was in the 50 backstroke. Okay. So zone cut would mean you hit a time that was fast enough that it would be very, very good. Yeah. And I was going against a guy who was like really fast at Backstroke, um, in Butterfly. Yeah. Um, his name was Ben Gibson. Yeah. And I beat him in that. And then I was like. Oh yeah. I just be the best guy in the state at this. Let's go. Yeah. How did you feel? I felt really excited. And then how do you know? Do you I have to look at a board or something to see what your time was? Yeah. So you, um, touch at the end, the board is usually on the side of you at, behind you or in front of you. So sometimes I'll push off the wall to see the in front of me. Sometimes I'll just look to my side. It'll show a time and you can just see what you went. And you beat the number one kid in the state? Yeah. And how, what, what year is this? 2024. Okay. So you're eight. You beat the number one kid in the state. At Backstroke? Mm-hmm. And was that the moment that hooked you in? Like what? Just because I feel like with youth sports, a lot of kids play a lot of sports 'cause they're fun, you know? Mm-hmm. Like we were talking before this that you used to wrestle, which is awesome. I love that. But I think a lot of times kids play a lot of different things and they're not really like all in like, I'm now committing my childhood to being the best swimmer possible. Where was that moment for you? So I was putting in. Not full effort at every practice, but I was putting in a decent amount, um, at my 8-year-old year. Yeah. And then I saw that I was able to get high point the youngest person ever to get high point. What's that for State, like the, I got, I won the most amount of points for races. Like first place usually is about 20 points. Then second place is usually about 17, 16, or 17 points. So. Um, I got the most amount of points in all my events. I was the most consistent. I think my worst placement that year was third place. No way. So I got the high point and then I knew I could do great things 'cause I was the youngest one ever. What locked you into that though? Like, I feel like a lot of times kids today aren't so dedicated to honing their craft. You know, again, we talked about it, you could be like playing Fortnite or it's really fun because, um. I have a lot of friends there, and it's just, I like the sport of swimming. Does it ever get tiring? Frustrating. Do you ever get like, oh man, this is a lot? Yeah, sometimes. uh, that's why I also took a two week break. Um, it's just, it was getting too much for me and, uh. I just need a break for a second. So Yeah, and get like, refocus and like remind yourself that, hey, this is fun. Like, you know, sports in general are fun. Like, isn't that like the greatest part? Like when you win Yeah. Something. And I know I'm, I'm the kind of guy too that likes delayed gratification. So like, imagine you right now, you got six days a week, you're in the pool, five other workouts on top of that, and you're putting in all this work. To then get a payoff potentially at the end. Like it's not guaranteed that you're gonna be amazing, but maybe at the end you can win this medal or break this record or do this crazy thing. And I just think that's so cool. Yeah. What do you love the most about swimming? Definitely friends, like being around my friends. Oh, do you have a lot of friends like on your swim team? Yeah, just a lot. And because like you don't go to Fisher's Elementary, do you? No, like, it's like swimming's a club type sport, right? Yeah. Where, uh, it's not like you, you know, are in your third grade class and you know, you compete for your third grade class. What, what grade are you in? I mean, there there is middle school and high school. Yeah. Um, but there's no elementary school. There's no element school. Yeah. Wait, what, what grade are you in? Um, what grade is 10th? I'm in fourth grade. Fourth grade. So middle school is, um, you are so much more mature than I was as like an eighth grader, as a fourth grader, so congratulations to you, man. I love that. When you think about what motivates you, like what motivates you to get up and go at it? Six days plus a week. When I see good times, I get motivated to go even faster, especially when I heard that I was. Um, being as fast as Michael Phelps, I was like, I wanna give more. That's crazy. I gotta go fast. You were faster than Michael. Phelps was at 10 years old. Yeah. How much, like, do we have like a stand a time standard? I'm about 12 events Faster than him. You're faster than him In 12 events. In 12 events, yeah, dude. Is that kind of crazy? Yeah. Now, how do you keep your foot on the gas and make sure that you stay faster than him through every age group? My dad told me that Bob Bowman said, um, Leon Marchand and Michael Phelps both had a lot of 8's instead of 10 outta 10 practices. So I just gotta keep. Consistency. Um, yeah. So I might not be a 10 every time, but as long as it's in a 7, 8, 9. Yeah. What makes that range? What makes a 10 practice for you? Two hours in the pool? What would make it a 10? Outta 10? Probably pushing myself to where I'm almost vomiting. No way. Yeah, and you're just used. Love that. That's so awesome. You are a stud. So cool. Did along this journey, obviously you're 10, did you have to stop playing all the other sports? I still run cross country. Do you like running or swimming more? I definitely like swimming more, but I still love running. It's really fun. I've had a lot of ankle injuries, so it's not been able to, you just love pain, you know, between swimming and then you did wrestling and you do running. Those are like the three most brutal sports there are when it comes to that. What I saw, I think in the, in the records, you're a 15 time state champion. Yeah. I've won state, uh, like event wise 15 times. Wow. When was your first state championship? The first event that I won was 200 IM, when I won high point, I won only one event that year, but I was just super consistent. It was the 200 Im for when I was eight years old and uh, I won by, I think it was a quarter of a second. No. And a 200 that is about three minutes long. So I, and I, after three minutes by a quarter of a second, after three minutes, I went by a quarter of a second. That was crazy. What do you, what's going through your head when you're in like a three minute or a longer swim? Like what are you telling yourself? Especially if it's longer. I just gotta tell myself, keep going. And, um. If I'm on pace, then I'm like, you gotta go even faster. Like, that's the voice in your head. The voice in your head says, keep going. Or like, what's, like, tell me, like, take me inside the brain. Um, it's like, you cannot let this person, I look to my side and if I have somebody who's like, right, yeah. Like the, almost the same time as me. I'm like, I gotta be them, dude, that's sick. But for like a mile, I'll usually, I'm like singing in my head. Oh. What's, what's on the, what's on the playlist? uh, what, what are you singing in your head? I mean, it's a. It's a big variation. Sometimes it'll be rap music. Sometimes it'll just be like after my like a hundred left on my 500 freestyle. Yeah, I was singing. Tonight's gonna be a there we we go. Come on dude. I love that. What's the longest distance you've ever swam? The mile. It's um, 1.6K. Yeah. Ama. How long does that take you? How long does that take you? Um, I didn't swim in an actual meet, but I swam at a practice for a distance challenge and I went 18:11. You did a mile in 18:11. Yeah. Okay. Here's a fun fact for the, everyone listening. So in 2022 or 2023, I did a full Ironman and the swim of that is 2.4. Yeah. Okay. And so you did one mile in 18-something? My two and a half mile just under swim was like over 90 minutes. So you're pretty fast. And then that, well that's, well that's, that's 2.4 miles. So, dude, I was so bad. I learned how to swim in like four months. Like I had never actually like swam laps or anything. And it was a New Year's resolution. And we ran, we did the race in April and I had to learn how to swim in that time frame, like learned how to actually like, but luckily for that was open water. Well. Yeah, it was like on a big lake and so we had, um, a wetsuit. Yeah. So I, because the hardest part is keeping your hips up. Yeah. I've actually swam open water before. Um, no way the. It was weird 'cause I had to like, um, cite the, where the buoys are. So I had to keep like lifting my head up. 'cause that's actually how you swimming. You're supposed to keep like every like four strokes. You're supposed to look up, look up to cite in where you're going. Yeah, but like keep rhythm. Oh no. What I was singing in my head the whole time for that. What? It was like one, the like Dory song from Finding Nemo. If I just keep swimming that and just like, what am I doing? Like I'm about to drown out here in the middle of Texas. It was crazy. So kudos to you. 19 or 18 minutes on my 18:11. Yeah. That's insane. What's, what's your favorite event when it comes to swimming? It's not my best, but. It's probably the 50 free, because I just get it over with. You. Just get it over with. Yeah. It, it's the least like still painful, but, 'cause you can't breathe. It's less breathing, but. It's, in my opinion, the least painful. If you had to pitch the sport of swimming to other kids across the country, like you're trying to get them to get involved with swimming, what would you say to them? See how you like it and, um, you gotta get 'em in the pool. Like, like you gotta go in front of a group of. 510 year olds that have never swam before and you have to say something to convince them to Get IN the pool for the first time. What would you say to convince them? Why should they become try out swimming? I think it's very fun and I just love working hard. Yeah. Like that's just. How does that mindset get built? Like how do you, how did you know? 'cause I could line up 10, 10 year olds and I don't know if all of them would say, I like working hard. How did you flip the switch to enjoy hard work? Probably the moment I got a first state cut at seven. Like, so success? Yeah. Do you think you'd like it as much, even if you weren. Number one in the nation. Yeah. Like would you, do you still love the grind? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's cool. And I think that, you know, as you continue to grow up, I always preaching to our athletes is you gotta love, um, like the preparation more than you love the product. Yeah. You know, like, the outcomes are awesome. It's so cool to win. Mm-hmm. It's so cool that you know. See these amazing times. But if you think about, you're 10, I dunno what Alex Shackell was 17 or 18 when she won an Olympic gold. Yeah. Something like that. Right. So it's like you gotta go eight more years. Yeah. To get to like, let's say seven more years to get into that frame. uh, maybe six that's longer than you've been competitively swimming in your entire life up to now. Yeah. That's pretty crazy to think about. What are your goals short term or long term? uh, let's do both. Let's start with the short term and then I want to know your long term goals. Short term is getting a National Age Group record by the end of the season, National Age Group record. So that would be. A 10 & Under national record this before August? Yeah. Or when's the season end? Some of the last chance meets. My best chance is to, um, zones mine is right, like be, my birthday is right after zones is like August 1st through third, and I'm August 7th. You could squeak in there as a 10 & Under. Yeah. There we go. Okay. So that's the one. Mm-hmm. And what's zones that's, I thought that zones was a time standard. Like there's a lot more people that make zones than they do mid states. Allstar. Mm. Allstar is, um, like you have to be top two in the state for that event. Oh. To, to even have a chance to qualify. Wow. When you. Need motivation. You know, let's say you're like, oh man, I really don't want to go into the pool today. Like we, you know, you know, I did five workouts this week. Isn't that good enough? What motivates you? What gets you fired up? Just knowing that it. Might pay off. And just knowing that I have, um, I'm in online school, so I had to give up some of my friends for regular school. So I know that my, my best part of the day is gonna be at Swim because I have all my friends there. Wait, when did you switch to online school? Um, just the start of the school year. How's that been going? uh, pretty well. I've had really good grades. I did not do very good in the Spanish test, but no chat GPT, right? No. There we go. Got it. You did not get on the span. No. Ablo Espanol. Mm. I just got back from Mexico. That's like about all I picked up there. Um, okay, so you switched to online. Is that in order to train more? Is that just 'cause it was a better for you or, uh, I have a lot more time to. I take my own food, um, my own Oh. And I get a workout. If I had regular school, I don't have enough time to work out. Yeah. Wow. Make your own food because you know, food is important. Mm-hmm. I feel like swimmers eat a ton of calories too. Yeah. What's, okay? What's your go-to, you're prepping for the biggest race of your life. Day before, two days before Olive garden, olive unlimited bread. Pasta. Pasta and unlimited breadsticks. Yeah. Oh, it's gotta be pasta. Yeah. Okay. Pasta is just, it's really good. Yeah. I always do good at steak with when I eat that we go there. I, my go-to food, not before a big race is steak. I love steak, steak, steak and chicken. You, you don't need that before the race. Yeah. Yeah. You need the carbs. Go. Yeah. You need the carbs. Yeah. Okay. So then right after though, let's say you win the biggest race of your life where, oh, you, yeah. I'm gonna to get ice cream and chicken. Where, where'd the ice cream from? Um, do you have a go-to spot, either Dairy Queen or Culver's? Oh, so good. You're a chain guy. All right. I respect that. Culver's Culver's is custard, though. They're like the same thing. Yeah. Okay. Concrete Mixer. Is that what those are called? Yeah. Who has the best pool? Like, where's the coolest pool you've swam at? The coolest or fastest. The coolest, I want the coolest environment, the coldest water and the fastest pool. All three. So the coolest was probably, um, ISCA East Coast Elite Showcase. Um, it's in Florida. uh, it's an outdoor pool. Oooooh Coldest was definitely, um, Open Water Zones. It was 72 degrees. Open Water Zones. Yeah. Where's that at? So, uh, that was Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Yeah, in open water in Wisconsin it was 72 degrees. Um, is that cold? I don't in relative, so 72 seems kinda nice to me. Well, but not for water comparison. I feel like my pool is kind of cold and it is 80 degrees. Oh, that is a lot colder. Yeah. Okay. So coldest was open water in Wisconsin. Um, the fastest I've ever gone. Um, like the fastest pool in my opinion. I've only had two races there. But although they are our rivals, um, probably the Carmel Swim Club pool. Dang. Have you got to swim at the Natatorium downtown? people say that one's pretty fast too. Either Carmel or the Natatorium. Yeah. Was that pretty cool to get to swim in there? Yeah. Did you go to the Olympic swim trials when they were at Lucas? uh uh, at Lucas Oil Stadium? Was that pretty sweet or what? Yes. Like, I mean, imagine you were probably. Nine. I was eight. You were were eight. I did a, I did a meet right before that. But you had to swim at a meet and then go in there. Yeah. 'cause they gave us free passes. I mean, that's when you saw that, were you like, oh my goodness, this is where I want to be someday. Yeah. So let's talk about your long-term goal. What, oh yeah. I forgot to That's all right. When you're, when you're thinking about where you want to be. You know, 10 years down in life, where do, where do you wanna go? Breaking world records, going to hopefully when I'm 16, gonna my second Olympics. uh, wait, your second Olympics, I mean, my second Olympic trials, where would your first Olympic trials be? uh, 12 years old. I'm trying to make that. The National Age Group record is about right on that. No way. Okay. Wait, hold on. What's the time? Tell me the times you'd have to go to get, I forget the times to qualify for the Olympic trials at 12. My dad has a whole spreadsheet on it and it's like, I'm like 15% away from the, um, what's the youngest person to ever go to Olympic trials? I don't know the Olympic trials, but I know it's the Olympics Is um. Like 14. How old was Michael Phelps when he went 15? He was 15. I think it was a girl that went 14. No way. Yeah. So like that comes, that's coming pretty quick, dude. Yeah. Okay. So you said either re breaking world records, but my other option would be, I'm trying to go to, um, Indiana. Um, iu. You wanna swim in iu? Yeah. College. Um. And I just want to do really good there. Hopefully get some records there. 'cause I've seen their, they have a record board there and um, 'cause I've gone to a camp there before and Yeah, I also saw that Cody Miller has one. Um, and it said, um, am next to it. And I, I was like, what does that mean, dad? And then he was like, that's not American record. Oh, so you, so I'm hoping that I can have some up there that say am next to it. Am let, what about. GM would be a global record. I don't know if World record. Oh, wm. WWR. Wait, so AM stands for American, oh my bad. Ar, sorry. Oh, ar. American Record. Yeah. And then it would be WR. Yeah. For World record. Yeah. When you think of through the stretch here, between now and when you turn 11, what is the time if you wanted to be the fastest 10-year-old ever? What time would you have to hit and where are you at today? Do you know that number? So I know the 50 freestyle, the one where you're on their stomach? Yeah. Yeah. Um, that's 24, 42 or 47 something is like something right there. Um, and I'm a 26 40, so I, no, it's 26 20. So I'm, I'm a while away. You got a ways to go on that one. Okay. Are there other ones that you're closer to? Um, a hundred freestyle is like 53 2, and I'm a 55, but I haven't swam that in like month or two. Yeah. Wow. So we're, we're cl this is, and that's not to be the number one this year. That is to be the number one of all time. Yeah. Okay. So in swimming, how hard is it to shave off a second? Um, it depends on the event For the mile, I mean Oh yeah, if you're, well, I mean, if you're like. Katie Ledecky, then it's really hard to do that. But if you're like me, then it's, it's not as hard. You just have a little extra serving of pasta the night before and there's your second, right. Yeah. Um, but if it's in like the 50 freestyle, that is extremely hard. 500 free and my 200, that's the one my, no, my 200 free is even closer. It's 1.3% away. And it is, uh, I'm, I'm 1 57, but I with 500, you just have to be crazy, you know, like who's, how many is that? That's just down and back. 20. That's 20, right? Is that 20 lengths? Yeah. 20. Yeah, 20 lengths to the pool. You just have to be crazier than everybody else and just like not be willing to stop. Yeah. Like on a, on a 50 or you know, 50 or a hundred, that's like pretty short. It's like a sprint. Yeah. Everyone's a little crazy for a short period of time. You just have to be a lot crazy for a longer period of time. Yeah. Do so. Do you like the longer events? Like do you, are those your better ones? uh, mid distance, mid two, 200 free and 500 free are my best events. Oh, where does it turn into long distance? Well, some people consider 500 mid, um, long distance, but I don't consider it honestly not for you. Yeah, because you're crazy. But. 800 meters, a thousand yards, 1,650 yards, or 1,500 meters. Those are all pretty long. Dude. This is Epic. Okay. Who's your favorite swimmer of all time? Lilly King. Really? Why Lilly King? Because she started in Indiana. Um, she grew up in Indiana. She, um. Went to college in Indiana and did great things in Indiana. Yeah, I mean this guy, I love it. You know that we're an Indiana show here. Yeah. So, so talking all things Indiana is the move. Yeah. That's pretty, that's cool. She grew up here, then went to IU and Yeah, and then crushed it up the Olympic stage. If you could swim anywhere in the world, if you got invited to a all expenses paid meet anywhere, where would you want to go swim. I don't want to go to Australia. 'cause they have. Too many like bugs and insects and I, I don't wanna deal with that. All right. So we're not going down under, got you. The Olympics would be 2028. Like you would make the, you could potentially have the opportunity to make the trials in 2028. Yeah. That's crazy to me. Two years from now, the Olympics are in LA and then the 32 are in Australia, which I'm trying to go to the Olympics for, so, so I guess you're gonna have to get over that. You know, bring some bug repellent. Yeah. Okay. When you're not swimming, what do you like to do? I speak for a lot of boys play video games. Oh. What's, what's the, what's the video game of choice? Um, well you've been grinding Minecraft lately, haven't you? Nope. No, no, no, no, no. Um, there's gotta be, Fortnite is one of them. Yeah. Um, there's a game called, um, it's on Roblox. I think it's called Fisch, it's, it's pronounced like Fitch or Fish. Yeah. Or something like that. Yeah. And it's really fun. Wow. Okay. So you still like do normal 10-year-old boy stuff? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not like you're like every night not an alien. Yeah. Yeah. You're not just like every night doing pushups before bed? No. Like just not playing video games. Um, you said steak's, your favorite food. Yeah. Steak. Your steak, your chicken. But then before meat, you're hitting up. uh, olive Garden after a meat. What is your McDonald's order? Four cheeseburgers. Fourche with a large fry. And, um, sometimes if it, if like the season's over, um, because I don't like to drink carbonated drinks, um, during the season, so that's, that's kind of weird for a 10, a 10-year-old. But I. I just, I think I gave up, I gave up soda. Yeah. Somewhere around there. But that's 'cause I was fat as a little kid. Well, yeah. And so I was like, you know, I probably don't need to have an extra Mountain Dew today. Yeah. So I'll get a medium Sprite if I, if the season's over. And every now and again you throw in a McFlurry too, don't you? I'll, I'll take a sundae. Yeah, I'll take a sundae. Hot fudge? Yeah. Come on now. Now we're talking. I love it man. Man. We're a made chocolate chip. Oh yeah. Man, Gabe, it's been awesome to get to know a little bit more about the world of youth swimming. uh, I think that it's so fascinating and fun and I just think that it's cool to see someone who's 10 years old be so dedicated to working hard. I think that that, uh, is inspiring and I think that if people can see that and hear a little bit about your story, maybe other, you know, 10, 12, I mean even adults that are out there, like, oh, you know, can we, could we be. Chasing our goals a little harder, could we be willing to put in some more work? What advice would you have for someone out there that maybe, maybe they're older and they've put their dreams on the sideline, and if they're thinking about picking it up and getting back into it, what advice would you give them? Working hard. Pays off. Definitely pays off. Yeah, absolutely. Easy clip that Working hard pays off. I love the way. That you like your maturity and how you carry yourself, like you're crushing it. So, so, so fun. But now we've come to the part of the show where we talk about all things Indiana. So this is where you get to, uh, yeah. Just speak to a little bit about your favorite things about the Hoosier State. So in your travels when you're in Australia in 2032 and you're preaching the gospel of Indiana to the world. What is something the world needs to know about Indiana? That we have a really good, um, basketball and swimming program. Um, and football too. 'cause we just, we won the national championship. Let's, we got all the sports. Yeah. Come on. And I, you just beat Purdue like it's a good time to be part of the Hoosiers. Come on. Yeah. Alright. Now this is your opportunity to enlighten me about. A place or something within Indiana that you love? Oh, okay. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? The Natatorium. The nat is a green one. IU Natatorium, isn't it sweet? Yeah, dude, very fast. Other than people hate that it's really itchy. Why is it itchy? So they use a different type of, um, chemical. It, it tastes like salt water. Oh. And it makes it like if you're out of the water too much. It people say it's itchy. And I agree with that. It is itchy. Yeah. Huh. So it's not like chlorine. I mean, it is a type of chlorine, I forget what it's called. Wow. Maybe that's what makes it so special. The gnat. Alright. And then the final question that we have for you is, this is your opportunity to share the love with someone else across the Hoosier state that's doing cool things. Who's the Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big things. Me? Yeah. Oh, maybe he says keep your eye on him. Let's go. Dude. I love it. I think that it's just everything you've got going on is so cool. I love how hard you work. I love your willingness to pursue your goals, and I love that you have like a fun. You know, charismatic attitude about it. I think that's cool. Yeah. I think swimming needs a little bit of personality. Yeah. So you're, you're the guy to get the job done there. uh, any final shout outs? Any things you wanna say? Any, any final words of wisdom for the audience? No, I think we cleared everything up. We cleared everything up. Yep. Alright, so if I wanted to check in to see if you became. The fastest 10-year-old of all time in something. How would I do that? Usa Um, they have a, um, swim standards. Like if you search it up, then they have like, uh, some times and they, if you search up, um, National Age Group records, then it'll say like the top times, like if you search up 50 freestyle, um, National Age Group record, it'll pull up Winn Aung. 40, um, 24, 42. Do you just like, have that like printed out on your, in your bedroom? Like that's what I'm coming for? No. Um, and you gotta, like, I'm pretty sure there's some filters and it asks like, how, what age group do you want? Yeah. 20 13, 24, 42. Yep. That's wild. Winn Aung. What's, what's win on up to. Um, are they, are they still like swimming? Is he still swimming? Is he fast? Yeah, he's probably 23 years old. Maybe just graduated college. Maybe I should look him up on LinkedIn. Um, also Ayden Tan has a lot. One of them who has a good amount of them. Yeah. Um. Through 10 & Under and 1112. Yeah. Where can we find out more about you? Um, if you go to Instagram, my Instagram account is called Gabe Goes for Gold. Well, we'll be following along, dude. Keep making us proud. Keep crushing it, man. I'm, uh, I'm excited to follow the journey. I'm excited to see just as you continue to unfold and, and keep working hard. I think, I know you didn't ask for any unsolicited advice, but I just love your commitment to the work ethic and the commitment to remember. Sports are fun. Yeah. You know, like it's not always like the little things aren't always fun. Practice in the morning or practice. Yeah. You know, on Saturday's not always fun, but the larger picture of you do this because it's fun and the delayed gratification where it's like the work that I put in today, tomorrow, the work I put in yesterday all builds up to the opportunity. To maybe win down the road. Yeah, I just think it's so cool. uh, and I'm a fan. You have convinced me I'm now a fan. uh, you swung me more towards swimming. I gained a newfound respect for swimming today, so we appreciate it. uh. Appreciate you stopping by. Take it easy and swim fast. Make us proud, man. All right. Thank you for having me on. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spanel. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.