CORNING'S MCKANE HAS SIGNING DAY TO SWIM AT WEST POINT (6 PHOTOS) (2024-03-28)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
CORNING — In high school there was little that Angie McKane didn’t accomplish for the Corning Hawks.

On Tuesday she made it official that she’ll be continuing her career at the Division I level as she signed to swim at West Point.

For McKane there was a time she actually thought she’d be going to Navy, but on Tuesday night she was talking about beating Navy.

“Actually, it started when I took a visit to the Naval Academy and I thought this is it, I loved it there” McKane said. “But, then I saw an Army t-shirt in the stands at a swim meet and I thought maybe I should make sure I covered all my bases. I wanted to show my mom what a service academy looked like and when I visited West Point it was just perfect. The structure there was incredible, that’s exactly what I want my future to look like. I love the mission of the Army and I’m so excited to be able to dedicate myself to something so big.”

In high school McKane accomplished more than anyone in program history. After making varsity in eighth grade she qualified for states and took 14th in the 100 fly in states.
 
That was the last time McKane would ever finish anything other than first at the state meet in the event.

As a sophomore she won the 100 fly state title, a year later she won the state and federation titles in the 50 free and repeated as state champion in the 100 fly.

This past season McKane won both state and federation titles in the 50 free and 100 fly, earning Automatic All-American honors in both. She was named the Most Outstanding Athlete at the NYSPHSAA Championships, and also the Academic Athlete of the Year.

Academically the Hawks senior has maintained a 4.0 GPA the past three years and is enrolled in all AP and IB courses and is a IB Course candidate. She is the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and is a member of the National Honor Society. She has been placed on the high honor roll every year of high school and received the Scholastic All-America honors from USA Swimming in 2023.

Outside of the classroom McKane has provided swim lessons to beginners, taught for the Little Hawks Swim Club, volunteered for the Wineglass Marathon and participated in the fifth grade read aloud program at Winfield Elementary School. She has also been an active member of the er of the Unified basketball team for three years and has worked toward creating equal opportunities for athletes with physical or intellectual disabilities.

“I really appreciate being able to see smiles on other peoples faces,” McKane said. “I think one of the most rewarding aspects of my life I’m able to see that is in unified basketball. And, that started my sophomore year because my language and literature teacher was the coach for that.”

For McKane the success she’s had in swimming is the result of a lot of work.

“Just a lot of dedication and discipline,” she said. “There were countless mornings this past fall leading up to my state meet and my national meet that I spent at health works. Just trying to get those couple extra hours in the pool or the weight room. But, when it comes to my actual races you just have to trust in the training you had and understand whatever is in your body will get you to whatever time you will get when you touch the wall.”

All the support that McKane has had during her time at Corning is something she’s appreciated.

“The support from my coaches, and my friends and my family, I’m definitely going to miss my family and my coaches the most,” McKane said. “They have just always given me so much. It’s going to be an adjustment going to such a different location with a different support system but I have no doubt in my mind Army will support me just as good.”

McKane has already gotten the support from Army’s coaching staff as they have come to her practices and meets to see her swim.

“They have always been so encouraging and always been quick to tell me they are proud of me even if I don’t have my best race,” she said. “And, also, being able to watch sometimes their swimmers compete, it makes me excited to be a part of that team.”

For McKane she wasn’t always sure she wanted to go to a Service Academy, but once she looked more into them she realized it was for her.

“I had been introduced to the idea of of a service academy from some friends the previous years,” she said. “I didn’t really know what it was, but seeing their experience in the service academies kind of led me to want to explore my options. I visited Penn State and the Naval Academy in the same weekend, two polar opposite schools.

“Because at first I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and a part of something with such a strong goal. So visiting those two schools the same weekend it definitely pointed out I wanted to attend a service academy instead of a civilian college.”

McKane will have to serve eight years for the military, five active duty, while three are in the reserves.

“Right now, I’m leaning toward aviation,” McKane said. “But, you graduate and commission based on your class rank. But, if that doesn’t work out I plan to major in physics so hopefully I can go the engineer route and well see if I love being in the army. We’ll see if I make a career out of it, but as of right now I’m excited for the eight years.”

A lot of the things that McKane did in swimming can help her as she goes to West Point.

“Part of them will help translate,” McKane said. “I’ll definitely be a little bit better at adapting to certain aspects of it. Definitely the physical part. I was able to max out almost all the physical assessment tasks, but there are other parts like memorization and being able to just stand for a long time, that will be an adjustment, but I’m excited.”

Throughout high school McKane had a lot of goals she set for herself. Now, as she goes to college she has new goals she’s setting for herself.

“Actually, I saw NCAA women’s swimming and diving,” McKane said. “I saw my competitor from two years ago, and last year as well, Tess Howley competed in the 200 butterfly and it was incredible to see she came from this similar meet that I competed right next to her at and now she’s at this national level competition. Definitely made me want to try and reach for that in the next couple of years.”

Perhaps one day in college McKane will be back in a lane next to Howley competing with her at nationals.

“Now she seems to be doing longer distances than myself,” McKane said. So, we’ll see if I get to race next to her again.”
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