The pool, the crowds and the noise fade when Mitchell Evans enters the zone.

It’s the place where the lanky swimmer retreats to before a race. It’s not a room, but a quiet corner in his mind.

“I go through the race in my head and think of what I have to do,” the teen says.

Once in the water, Mitchell’s still in the zone. Stroke after stroke, he swims to his goal. He says there’s no stress, just determination.

And then it ends and Mitchell exits the zone, climbing out of the pool.

“The first thing I do,” the teen says, “is look up at the clock and see if I met my goal.”

If he does, Mitchell, 15, says “It feels like I did what I came to do.”

If not? Well, there’s always next time, the soft-spoken teen replies.

Mitchell has been swimming for almost nine years and is a member of the Pony Express Swim Team and the Central High School swim team. Although the PEST fall and winter session has just ended, Mitchell will do a summer rec session at the Y. He’ll also attend a swim camp this summer at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Amanda Cook, Mitchell’s PEST coach describes the young athlete as a graceful swimmer.

“He’s so pretty in the water,” she says.

However graceful, she’d like to see him become more aggressive. Mitchell says that can be difficult to do because, with his laid back “I like to have a good time” attitude, it’s hard to be competitive.

Like his teammates, Mitchell attends several hour-and-a-half practices a week. He attends three of the four practices, because golf is another of his passions, and it’s a game that he’s loved since childhood.

“I do better at individual sports,” he says.

When he’s in the water, Mitchell says he prefers to swim the 50 freestyle or the 100 freestyle or 100 backstroke. His talent impresses his coach.

“He probably has the chance to swim at a division one college,” Ms. Cook says. “He just has to find that aggressiveness.”

Mitchell hopes to swim for the University of Missouri. If he does, the pool, the crowds and the noise will fade when he enters the zone. The race will play in his head and he will swim toward his goal.

Lifestyles reporter Cathy Woolridge can be reached at cathyw@npgco.com.