All-First Coast boys swimming: Bolles' Andy Kravchenko followed brother's pool path

Growing up on Florida's Space Coast, Andy Kravchenko watched as his older brother, Lucas, brought home championship after championship in the pool.

So what's a younger brother going to do? Try to go even faster.

"Seeing him on these big stages motivated me, and as I got older, I wanted to do what he did and I wanted to do it even better," he said. "That's really inspired me."

A quadruple Florida High School Athletic Association champion at November's Class 1A meet, the speedy junior sprinter is the Times-Union's All-First Coast athlete of the year for high school boys swimming.

Kravchenko helped Bolles to a sweep of all three relays as the Bulldogs won their 36th consecutive state championship at Florida Aquatic Swimming & Training in Ocala.

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"He sets a pretty high bar for everybody else to try to reach," Bolles head coach Peter Verhoef said.

But it was a fourth event when Kravchenko really stamped his mark on the season. After finishing the 50-yard freestyle in Ocala, he looked up to the scoreboard, and the time: 19.90.

With that swim, Kravchenko became the first Bolles swimmer since Olympic finalist Santo Condorelli in 2012 to break the 20-second mark in a state championship victory. He's not finished yet.

"It was a relief," he said. "That's been a goal of mine for years. Seeing that time on the board, it's a shock at first, but you also kind of look back to every practice like, 'That got me here.'"

FOLLOWING FAMILY PATH TO THE POOL

For Andy Kravchenko, a swimmer for a decade, the road to the championships started at home when he was around age 6.

"My dad would throw his keys on the bottom of the pool, and I would go get them," he said.

His main aquatic inspiration came from watching Lucas, a multiple state champion in his own right. Lucas won three titles in the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle for Merritt Island in 2017 and 2018 on his way to swimming for the University of Florida.

"I really followed in his footsteps and I tried to make him proud," Andy Kravchenko said.

Since moving from the Space Coast to the First Coast, he's made an impact at Bolles with his approach: quiet, but relentless.

"He's not really loud, doesn't grab a lot of attention or anything like that," Verhoef said. "But he's always going to be out front."

For a while, Kravchenko focused on the distance events, but that changed once he reached middle school. In part, he switched to the sprints because of his speedy growth. In part, it came down to attention to detail.

"When I was younger, I had a bit of a height advantage because I was taller than everyone," he said. "I also liked sprinting more because it's almost like a math equation. It's like you have to get every variable right, and every detail has to be spot on.

"It's almost like artwork."

SMALL DETAILS: KRAVCHENKO'S ROAD TO VICTORY

If swimming is like artwork for Kravchenko, then Bolles coach Verhoef has played the role of the seasoned master. The champion coach of the Bolles Sharks club that won the USA Swimming Speedo Junior Nationals in Columbus in December, Verhoef has helped Kravchenko refine his technique over both the 50 and 100 distances.

"He's put a lot into making his stroke more effective and more efficient, and he's worked on so many little things," Verhoef said.

Kravchenko's work ethic has helped him climb higher and higher. In the pool, he doesn't slow down.

"As crazy as it sounds, I'm almost like addicted to the sport," he said. "I can't take too much time away from it. I feel like once I started, I just couldn't stop. You're chasing the impossible."

Although Kravchenko has yet to publicly announce a college commitment, he already placed high in the SwimSwam national prospect rankings even before his 20-second feat.

Every time he sees the list of champions from Bolles next to the Uible Pool, he sees a reminder of how far he could go.

"Seeing [Caeleb] Dressel and all those guys, it's always inspiring, because they came through the same program," Kravchenko said. "It's like you're kind of trying to fill their shoes, which isn't really doable, but you know you're just doing your best."

He's still got one more year to race for Bolles. Could the all-time Bolles 50 free mark of 19.54, set 11 years ago by quadruple gold medalist Ryan Murphy, come into play? After breaking 20 seconds, Kravchenko isn't resting on his past achievements.

"I'm like, yeah, I went 19.9, but I have so many bigger things on my horizon, so many records I'm chasing," he said. "It's cool for an hour or two, but now I move on to the next one."

ALL-FIRST COAST BOYS SWIMMER OF THE YEAR

Andy Kravchenko

Junior, Bolles

Age: 16

Resume: Won Class 1A championship in 50 free in automatic All-American time (19.90). … Helped Bolles to automatic All-American times in relay sweep of 200 medley relay (1:28.31), 200 free relay (1:20.10) and 400 free relay (2:58.05). … Part of Bolles' 36th consecutive FHSAA championship team.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Andy Kravchenko, Bolles: All-First Coast boys swimmer of the year