Floats like a butterfly

Even at 11 years old, Jake Cirincione has the look of a swimmer.

The Whitefish Middle School student is tall for his age and his long, slender body glides through the pool as if he were born at sea — which isn't far from the truth.

Cirincione's parents taught him to swim when he was three months old. Living in Florida at the time, they had a pool at their house, and they wanted Jake to know how to swim for safety reasons. Little did they know, by teaching their son to paddle before he could walk, they were unleashing a fountain of potential onto the Montana swimming circuit.

Over the past year and a half, Cirincione has piled up a small mountain of medals at local meets. As a member of the KATS swim team in Kalispell, he recorded three races that qualified him for the multi-state sectional meet in Federal Way, Wash.

He has also earned a trip to the upcoming Montana State Championships in eight events. Last year at the state meet, he grabbed a first-place and two third-place finishes. And at the recent KATS Winter Invitational, Cirincione placed in nine events among 11-12 year-old boys.

Cirincione isn't sure why he excels in the pool, but says he enjoys it because he gets to be around his friends and because it's good exercise. While he competes in nearly every discipline, his favorite is the butterfly stroke.

"The first time I tried the butterfly, I didn't understand how to do it," Cirincione said. "But then I got the hang of it, and now I just enjoy doing it."

Recently, he competed in the 200-yard butterfly, which is twice the length of his typical race distance.

"I was scared at first because I thought I'd get too tired," he said. "But on my last lap, I told myself, 'You're almost done, just deal with it.' It felt really good to accomplish that goal."

When he steps up to the starting block before a race, Cirincione says he gets pretty nervous, but as soon as his fingertips touch the water, he uses that nervous energy to propel himself through the water — and usually to a spot on the podium.

Cirincione used to look up to 14-time Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps as a role model, but when the scandal broke about the swimmer's alleged use of marijuana, he says he changed his mind.

"Now I hope that one day I can be even better than Phelps," he said.

Cirincione plans to attend the Stanford University swim camp in California this summer to hone his technique with the assistance of some of the best coaches in the business. It's his long-term goal to attend Stanford or Yale on a swimming scholarship.