BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Luke Shourds is making his dream a reality after he qualified for the Olympic trials in the 100 meter breaststroke.

The time to beat, 1:03.29 and Shourds was able to kick past the competition with a 1:03.06. 

“First, obviously I was super excited. Looking at the clock, seeing that I got it, looking around at my friends on the deck it was just a great feeling, feeling like I got it done,” Shourds said.

Shourds practices in the pool at Greenwood High School. (Spectrum News 1/Erin Wilson)

Even with the odds stacked against him, barely missing the qualifying time two days before, Luke rose to the occasion.

“It was Sunday, it was basically after everything was wound up for him and he got it done,” Neil Romney, head coach of Race Aquatics said. “He did it when he had to so it was very exciting for me to hear that, I was impressed with his persistence and his willingness to just keep taking shots at it until he got it.”

The water is becoming almost a second home to the Greenwood High School senior. He spends nearly 15 to 20 hours each week in the pool, lifting weights and doing physical therapy.

Neil Romney, coach of Race Aquatics, said Shourds is the first swimmer he knows of in the area who has qualified for the Olympic trials.

“He’s extremely goal-oriented and ambitious and driven so he’s been at it long enough that in many ways, coaching Luke is more like coaching a master swimmer, an adult swimmer than a youth swimmer.”

He's already committed to the University of Louisville swim team next year. For Luke, it’s not just about making the Olympics.

“I’m going for the experience, just have fun but also to compete, hopefully drop a lot of time and see what I can do,” Shourds said.

The trials will put him in the pool racing against future teammates and his heroes.

“It's kind of intimidating but it's also really cool to just see all those people I've been idolizing for years in the same meet as me.”

Luke will compete in the Olympic trials on June 5 in Omaha, Nebraska.