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The sun is just rising on the day after Thanksgiving and Austin natives Winston Walkup and Kenny Cabeen are already in the pool at their hometown YMCA.

The pair, who are both freshman swimmers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, are no strangers to hard work as they both had state meet experience while they were with the Austin Packers. Now they are learning to work even harder on their own time as they are discovering the work it takes to be a college athlete.

“I maybe would’ve done a couple hundred yards in high school on a holiday like today, but we did close to 4,000 today,” Cabeen said. “It’s a new challenge. It keeps you a lot more organized than high school. You have to keep track of homework and practice, while still finding time to chill.”

While college offers many newfound freedoms, Walkup, a Pacelli grad, and Cabeen, an AHS grad, have held each other in check. The two are roommates at UWEC and they are always there to motivate each other in swimming and in school.

“It’s kind of nice because I’ve known (Kenny) for 11 years,” Walkup said. “I kind of know everything about him, so being roommates has gone great. It takes a lot more drive to compete at this level, because in college you don’t have to do it. You do it by yourself, because no one’s going to force you.” 

At a dual meet in St. Cloud recently, Walkup was on the seventh place 200-yard medley relay team, he took fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.78 seconds and he finished ninth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:09.11.

Cabeen took 12th in the 200-yard freestyle in St. Cloud with a time of 1:55.36 and 13th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52 seconds.

While they are certainly in the mix of contributors for the Blugolds, Cabeen and Walkup are learning that it’s like starting over from an athletic standpoint when you make the jump to college.

“It’s a very humbling experience compared to high school. You’re not the fast guy in the pool anymore,” Cabeen said. “There are other guys that have been here for four or five years and that makes practice that much more competitive.”

The other change in college is that meets are co-ed, which makes them twice as long. But Cabeen and Walkup enjoy the time they get between events where they can take in the action and enjoy themselves.

Besides providing a chance to compete in a sport they love, swimming in college has kept Cabeen and Walkup grounded in a time in their lives when opportunities are everywhere.

“Swimming kind of keeps us in check,” Walkup said. “You’re not going to make dumb decisions when you have practice the next day or a meet in a couple of days. You’re going to be a lot smarter about making your decisions.”

Austin grad Molly Sheehan is a junior at UW-Eau Claire and she took fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.27, fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:35.98 in the St. Cloud Invite.

The Blugolds will compete in the Rochester Invite on Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.