Brooke Shinnick '22 Recruiting Profile

Hi, I am Brooke Shinnick. Currently I’m 17 years old and have been swimming competively for 11 years. Swimming is my life, I don't remember a time where I wasn't in the pool or missing the pool. I believe that hardwork is what makes me different from other athletes. I never back down from a challenge. Until the pandemic, I swam 9 times a week excluding drylands. As a distance swimmer some days I logged as much as 12k meters between morning and afternoon practice. Our senior group trained in two short course and one long course lane. My philosophy is that the environment in which you swim is as important as the physical effort of an athlete. Relationships with coaches and teammates  make this sport so much more than just swimming. I believe supportive teamwork is a required ingriedient for a swimmer's success. I go to practice with a postive mindset in hopes of improving my stroke and technique, giving 110% in every set. I would be a great asset to your team. My collegiate goals consist of continuing to develop as a distance swimmer and 200 flyer with a goal of helping my college team score at conference championships, NCAA champions and to qualify for U.S. Nationals and Olympic Trials. I have also tried my hand at open water swimming making the MD State Open Water Team in both 2018 and 2019 and would like to continue to develop this in the future. I come from a long line of swimmers in my family, my father, Richard Shinnick swam in college for 4 years (2 years at North Carolina State University, and 2 years at Arionza State Univeristy.; and competed in 1988 Olympic Trials in the 1500 M FR and 200m Fly.. My Aunt, Ann Shinnick was also a college level swimmer for the University of Miami. My half sister Jackie Gonzalez, also swam for NBAC and was recruited to a D1 School.

In college I hope to accomplish my academic goal of pursuing a psychology major with a concentration in neuropsychology. It is my future goal to attend graduate school to be a neuropsychologist.

Covid-19 Update: Trying to stay in shape has been a challenge and I’ve learned to run again. I’m  also so glad to have had access to a state park with beach access to a river favorited by triathletes for open water training. I was able to swim several thousand yards/day daily starting in May . I’m back to restricted practice as of last week, but it’s great to be back.

2021 Update: our team has been back to full senior group regular practices since the end of January 2021.  Maryland LSC still only allows limited virtual meets (basically sanctioned time trials).  Our team finally attended a full trials/finals meet in Tampa, Fla. in April only to have both final sessions called for bad weather. We are planning to attend Futures in August at the Richmond location.