Puddle jumper

Missouri swimmer Shannon Hogan has been racing and winning in competitive swimming for 14 years, but as the end of her senior year looms, Hogan has begun to look back on swimming before she abandons the sport.

Hogan has an impressive swimming record at Missouri.

She is the Missouri record holder in the 50-yard freestyle and she is part of the school-record holding 200-yard and 400-yard free relay teams. Hogan’s personality and work ethic have been forged through years of sprinting for different teams in different parts of the U.S.

“Swimming has been such as big part in my life. It’s been 14 years back and forth in the pool,” she said.

Hogan started swimming when she was 8 in Madison, Conn., and her talent was evident early on.

“My mom has like a wall-of-fame (for my swimming), and she called me the other day and said, ‘Did you know that when you were 10 you had the eighth-best time in the nation in the 50 back,’” she said.

Hogan has lived in five different states and has never been with a swim team for more than three years.

“My dad worked for a cement company so whenever he got a promotion we had to move,” Hogan said.

Through the continuing travel schedule of her family, Hogan gained an appreciation for her family. Hogan says that her mom is her best friend.

“I have two consistent things in my life and that’s swimming and my family. My family is my rock,” she said.

Donna Hogan, Shannon’s mother, says that her relationship with Shannon grew because of constantly having to move around.

“We as a family had to depend on each other, because we didn’t have the relationships in a particular town,” she said.

Hogan also gained her bubbly personality from constantly having to make new friends in new cities.

“Shannon had two goals when she went to meets, first to do her best and hopefully win,” her mother said.

“The second goal was to see how many people she could meet. You have to walk up to people and put out your hand, most people don’t make the effort to come up to a new person.”

Hogan also gained an aptitude for sportsmanship while she was swimming with all of her different teams.

“Ever since she was in eight and under and she would touch the wall way before everyone else, she would stay in the pool until everyone finished,” Donna Hogan said.

Even though Shannon Hogan has been able to make friends easily through the years, she is still closer to her family than anyone else. Recently at Missouri’s senior day match with Iowa State the entire Hogan family came to celebrate Shannon Hogan’s swimming career. The Hogans also brought a sign with them that read, “Thanks for allowing us to enjoy 14 years of your swimming.”

“I was a mess,” Shannon Hogan said.

“She’s crying on the deck her dad’s crying in the stands. We couldn’t get out of the parking garage without crying,” Donna Hogan said.

Shannon Hogan, nearing the end of her senior campaign, has been enduring an emotional roller coaster, but she is positive about the road on which she is about to embark.

“It’s excitement because I will be starting a new chapter in my life. It was a good four years,” she said.

Shannon Hogan, however, will have support on her new journey from her family.

“Swimming will be hard to give up, but she’s a competitor, so her next competition will be to excel at broadcast,” Donna Hogan said.