It happens when you're swimming in the same lane as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in front of 15,000 spectators on United States swimming's biggest stage. It happens when you're diving into a pool with NBC cameras fixed on the best swimmers your country has to offer from a pool of over 300,000.
It happens when you’re Bailee Nunn, you’re 18 years old from a town of under 7,000 and, now, you’re one step away from the Olympics, swimming in three events at the U.S. Olympic swim trials.
That’s when the feeling hits.
"It's most definitely surreal," Nunn said after returning from a week in and around the Olympic-sized 50-meter pool of Omaha's CenturyLink Center.
That dreamlike week ended with Nunn placing 70th in the 100-meter breaststroke, 43rd in the 200-meter breaststroke and 31st in the 200-meter individual medley. All three events came against 123 other national qualifiers, including those representing the U.S. in Rio this August.
The Marshfield native arrived in Omaha after spending two weeks training in Florida in a pool used by the Lochte family, but that didn’t compare to the experience in Omaha.
“You get to see everyone you look up to as a little swimmer,” Nunn said. “You actually see them. At first, it was nerve-wracking, but you kind of get used to it as the days go by. It was just an unbelievable experience being there and being around all the super good athletes you look up to.”
No, Nunn won’t be joining those athletes in Rio this summer. It’ll need to be Tokyo 2020 for her, and perhaps that’s better timing—the average age of U.S. Olympic swimmers in London 2012 was 21.5.
But before she looks forward, it’s important to look back to grasp just how far Nunn has come.
A Life Aquatic
“In kindergarten, we got a flyer about the Marshfield swim team, back when we had a pool. I basically begged my parents to let me join. I wasn’t old enough to be on the team, but they let me try out, and it kind of progressed from there,” Nunn said.
It was clear early on that Nunn was too good for her local Marshfield team. Enter: Springfield Aquatics and Brian Reynolds.
Nunn began swimming with the long-time Drury coach in eighth grade after a stint in the lower age group with Jason Owen, now the head swimming and diving coach at Lindenwood University.
“[Brian] basically is a role model,” Nunn said. “He looks out for all of his swimmer’s as his own. When I have my rough days in swimming, he motivates me to push through everything. If I’m having a bad meet, he’ll give me advice and tell me everything will be fine.”
Yes, even for an athlete with Olympic aspirations, there are bad days and bad meets.
“You don’t really want to practice sometimes. It’s hard. There have been times where I’ve cried because it’s so hard. In swimming, you don’t get a break like other sports.”
In fact, Nunn only gets one week off per year. Her high school afternoons and evenings were spent traveling to and from Springfield Aquatics. Over an hour a day and 51 weeks per year. But through all that travel and all those practices and all the miles in the pool, she’s never thought of stopping.
“I love it,” Nunn said. “It's six days of practice a week. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, I practice for two hours each in the morning and night. The other three days are one two-hour practice. Then, two or three of those days, we have 45 minutes of dry land added onto that; ab workouts, pull-ups, that kind of stuff.
“It gets hard, but I’ve never really thought about quitting. The outcome of what I’ve accomplished is well worth the driving and hours of practicing.”
But for all her Olympic trials qualifying times, Nunn’s name doesn’t sit atop any MSHSAA state record books. It was decided ahead of her freshman year at Marshfield that her swim career would be better served competing on the club level and continuing under Reynolds’ tutelage. But that doesn’t mean her peers at Marshfield High School aren’t behind her.
A small-town swimmer on a big-time stage
“I was in class when they were broadcasting the times online for the Olympic Trials,” Nunn said. “I got pulled out of class by our sports administrator, and he congratulated me and told me I had made three Olympic trial cuts. I called my mom. It was just emotional and relieving knowing that I had made the cut.
Then, they announced on our intercom over the whole school that I made the cuts. My classmates were all cheering me on. They were super happy for me.”
That reaction must have been humbling for Nunn. She doesn’t like speaking of her accomplishments. She’s too respectful. Too humble.
“I just don’t like bragging,” she said.
Now, that humbleness is leading her to a collegiate swim career at Drury University, continuing her tutelage under Reynolds, the man she’s called a father figure. Drury wasn’t the only school that came calling for Nunn, either. Texas A&M was on her radar, amongst a number of Div. 1 programs, but Nunn chose to stay home. It’s just who she is.
Omaha was just the beginning
“I come from a small town, so I didn’t want to go to a big school with a bunch of people in classes,” she said. “I committed [to Drury] before I took my recruit trip, but after, I knew Drury was the place for me. Everyone is so friendly. I’d gotten to know the swimmers really well. They’ll basically be family to me.”
Drury’s women’s program exists as one of the most decorated in the country. The Panthers have celebrated 10 Div. II titles under Reynolds since 1997, the most recent coming in 2014. Nunn will likely enter as the best breaststroker Drury has. The freshman says she’ll be slated to compete in the 200-meter IM, the 100-meter breaststroke, the 200-meter breaststroke, the 100-meter butterfly.
“I’m hoping to win first place at nationals in those events. It’ll be close, but I think I can do it,” she said.
Nunn’s next stab at the Olympics is still a couple years down the road, and it could be her last. She wants to be an occupational therapist, or a nurse.
“When I was younger, I volunteered with Arc of the Ozarks and helped kids with disabilities. That’s always been one of my interests,” Nunn said.
But for now, that can wait. She knows this wasn’t her last chance at the world’s biggest stage, and it certainly wasn’t her best chance.
“I haven’t really done any weight training. A lot of the college swimmers I was competing against do weight training along with their swimming. So, next year and the next four years I’ll do a lot more of that."