By Zach Zook

NORMAL – Normal Community West High School’s Andrew Loy is a member of the school’s most recent graduating class. However, Loy hopes to become a member of another group soon after making the cut for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in swimming.

“I started realizing that I could actually go to the 2016 Olympic Trials probably the end of my summer junior year because I did the 200 (hundred) free and was only a half-second off the cut,” Loy said.

Loy recently changed his events last year and credits his success to that decision.

“At winter Juniors I thought, ‘Maybe I need to reconsider which events I’m doing,’ ” Loy said. “The 200 free and 200 IM were back-to-back in the high school season, so I couldn’t do them because it just wouldn’t work out well, so I scratched the 200 free and I did the 200 IM and the 100 free.”

Loy has had success with his switch. He missed the 200 IM state record by five-hundredths of a second his senior year. While he doesn’t expect to make the U.S. team at this trial, he is optimistic about the future.

“This trial is mainly just to get my head around it,” Loy said. “The nice thing about my grade, it actually falls super well because I get to obviously finish my high school career and go to the trials. Then I can go all the way through college and immediately three months later go to the 2020 Olympic Trials.”

The trials are in Omaha, Neb. from June 26 to July 3. Loy will start his college career in the fall at Ohio State University where he hopes to continue his swimming success.

Zach Zook can be reached at [email protected].