Campbell McKean, the four-time state champion and state-record holder from Caldera High, has swam in many meets with high stakes during his rise as one of the nation’s top high school swimmers.

But none compared to the behemoth of a swim meet that was the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials last month in Indianapolis.

“When I walked out, I didn’t look up because I knew there was going to be a lot of people there,” McKean said. “I just looked straight ahead, didn’t look up and spaced out the audience. I had to think of it as another meet. But having the trials in a football stadium, with 22,000 spectators, was crazy. I thought it was fun, crazy, loud.

“It is a once in a lifetime meet,” he added.

The trials were held at Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Indianapolis Colts play and where the NFL combine is annually held. Over the nine days and 17 sessions, more than 285,000 fans came to watch swimmers try to make the Olympic team with multiple days exceeding 20,000 spectators.

To reach the trials, McKean, representing Bend Swim Club, had to hit qualifying times in long-course pools. In December 2023 he hit the qualifying mark for the 200-meter individual medley at the Winter Junior Nationals in Chicago. Then he hit the qualifying marks in March for the 100 breaststroke at the Speedo Sectionals in Federal Way, Washington.

Competing against the country’s best swimmers at the trials, McKean finished 21st in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 1 second, and finished 26th in the 200 IM in 2:01.30. He did not qualify for the Paris Games but he came away satisfied with his performances.

“I blew myself away with my first race (in the breaststroke). I didn’t think I could go that fast,” McKean said. “But I think I can go faster.”

McKean, who will be a senior at Caldera, had two goals in Indianapolis: reach the semifinal round (he came up just short in both events) and hit qualifying times to make the Junior Pan Pacific Championships team, which he accomplished.

McKean was not the first in his family to reach the Olympic trials, and he was not even the first to make it while still in high school. His mother Becky McKean, née Gumpert, was a 1992 Mountain View High graduate who competed in both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic trials and swam for the University of Arizona.

“It was really exciting, it is a special thing for me to experience through a different set of eyes,” Becky McKean said. “Not as an athlete but as a parent. The Olympic trials are more nerve-wracking than at the Olympics, people say. It was really exciting.”

Campbell knew well of his mother’s accomplishments, but reaching the Olympic trials was never a main goal of his. He mostly just wanted to swim collegiately, and he will do so at USC.

“My hope was to be able to swim in college,” Campbell McKean said. “The Olympic trials wasn’t a thought. When I was younger it was so out of reach. I think it is really cool that we both swam in the Olympic trials.”

The McKeans are a family of swimmers. Campbell’s father Ryan McKean also swam for Arizona, while Campbell’s two older brothers Griffin and Durgan are both accomplished swimmers as well. Griffin swam at Grand Canyon University and is now swimming professionally in Spain, while Durgan is swimming at the University of Utah.

With a pair of trips to the Olympic trials under her belt, Becky McKean had simple advice for her youngest son still in high school.

“The reason why you are there is because you are a good swimmer and you deserve to be there,” Becky McKean said she told Campbell. “Believe in yourself as much as anyone else believes in you.”