Derek Mrachko '20 Recruiting Profile

Since the summer of 2010, I've swum competitively on four teams at four different levels of competition. In 2015, I qualified for and attended my first Michigan Swimming state championship meet and qualified for the Central Zone championships in Minneapolis. In 2017, I competed at Michigan states, where I was on Club Wolverine's state champion 13-14 4x200 freestyle relay. I was also at the 2017 Central Zone championships in Wisconsin, where I was on Team Michigan's third-place relay. I've been swimming on my high school team since my freshman year in 2016 and have qualified for the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (MISCA) meet every year. In 2019 (junior year), I attended my first high school state meet, and my team finished 5th overall.

Over the course of my swimming career, I have experienced several setbacks, mainly injuries. In January 2015, I cracked two vertebrae in a skiing accident and was out of the pool for a month. In November 2016, I broke my ankle and missed almost half of my first high school season. In December 2018, I sprained my shoulder, causing me to be unable to compete in several meets. However, through all of my injuries, I attended every meet and most practices, and tried as hard as I could to get better to be able to get back in the pool. I was always on the deck, cheering for my teammates and helping the coaches if they needed it or giving feedback to my peers after their races.

Aside from swimming, I have been a member of Skyline High School's nationally-recognized a cappella group, Skyline Blues, since 2017. We were the state champions in 2018 and 2019, the Great Lakes regional first runners-up, as well as second runners-up in the national wild card competition in 2018, and Great Lakes regional champions and International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) national runners-up in 2019.