Riley Gaines

to 8 a.m., go to class, come back, practice again from 1.30 to 4.30.

Ate your dinner, iced your shoulders, went to bed, did it all again the next day.

We swam about 15,000 yards every single day, which is equivalent to like 10-ish miles.

So lots of adjusting.

Sophomore year, still improving though, still getting better.

Sophomore year rolls around.

I really started having this breakout season, started doing some pretty great things, really had finally developed like a sense of consistency, I think.

And about three days before we were supposed to leave for our national championships, which, of course, you know, the NCAA, think about basketball, the NCAA tournament equivalent in swimming.

We are ready to go.

The meet you work all year, really all your life for.

About three days before we were supposed to leave in March of 2020, our coaches pull us out of the water, sit us down, say, look, you know, if you live in the dorm rooms, pack your stuff up.

You have to leave campus tonight.

Of course, COVID had hit.

I didn't really know what this meant at the time.

There's still a lot of uncertainty around this.

So I thought this meant we got a weekend off.

We got to go home.

We'd quickly return.

But of course, that was not a correct assumption because upon going back home, home is Tennessee for me.

Right.