Austin senior Shannan Kelly has always been driven to swim, even when the sport has pushed her to her limits.

Kelly has swam competitively since she was a fourth grader and she’s been going strong ever since. Now she’s ready to take the next step in her swimming career as she has committed to swim at Division III University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.

She knows there will be tough days ahead, but Kelly is ready to take on the challenge.

“I think if you ask any swimmer if they’ve ever wanted to quit the sport and they tell you no, then they’re probably lying,” Kelly said. “At least once a year I wonder if I should quit, but I never do because it would hurt me too much.”

While Kelly never advanced to a state meet with the Packers, she embraced her time with the team. She said the sport presents a unique physical and mental challenge that keeps her motivated.

“I love adrenaline. I’ve also always loved competing and I love the family aspect of the team,” Kelly said. “When you get put through everything that you get put through in swimming with super hard practices, you kind of develop a special bond with everyone on the team. No one really gets it quite like your teammates do.”

Kelly realized she had potential to swim in college during her freshman year of high school when she began to make improvements with the Packers. By the time she was a junior, she made up her mind that she wanted to swim and go to college close to home, but not too close.

Eventually Kelly made a couple of visits to UWSP and she liked what she saw with the school and the team.

“I loved their campus and their pool. I’m super excited to go there,” Kelly said. “I love the team and their pool is amazing. It’s my dream swimming environment.”

Kelly found her inspiration to swim from two big names in the sport — Olympic medalists Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky.

“Michael Phelps has shown you can screw up and still get to big places and Katie Ledecky shows that you can go through an injury and still make it big time,” Kelly said. “When she was 14 she broke her arm, but she still made ways to swim with it. Now she’s in the Olympics so I kind of admire that.”

Kelly is the daughter of Austin high school boys swimming and diving coach Ryan Kelly and her brother Logan has set the AHS record in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley.