Improving all the time

Ask Kendra Cheng to name her favorite stroke and the 17-year-old Franklin resident responds, with a chuckle, “I can do any stroke. My favorite, I guess, varies day to day. I guess recently, it’s been the backstroke.’’

But that could change tomorrow.

A record-setter at Bishop Feehan High in Attleboro, she has been working out in the pool in most of her free time since the age of 8. Technically sound, she has developed into one of the state’s premier swimmers.

Entering her senior year at Feehan, she already owns six school records and looks to improve upon a junior campaign in which she captured three state titles (200-meter individual medley, 100 butterfly, and 200 freestyle relay).

Outside of the pool, she’s proven just as prolific.

Cheng was recently honored as one of six recipients of a $2,000 Verizon Future Leaders Scholarship, presented by the Bay State Games, and based equally on merit in athletics, in the classroom, and in the community.

Two other area student-athletes were honored: Zach Price, a basketball captain and member of the baseball and football teams at Franklin High, and Connor MacKenzie of Harvard, a former two-time state soccer champion at the Bromfield School who has transferred to the Groton School, where he is captain of the lacrosse team.

Cheng ranks in the top 1 percent of her class at Feehan and is active around the area in various swimming activities. She is a lifeguard and also organizes free swimming clinics for children through the Hockomock Area YMCA in North Attleborough.

But for Cheng, nothing compares to the rush of competing in the pool. There have been softball games and tennis matches here and there that caught her eye, but she gave those up some time ago.

All she wants to do is swim.

“It’s just the feeling of seeing myself improve, that all my hard work day to day for a long time can all add up to one championship meet,’’ she said. “It’s just that great feeling that’s kept me going.’’

And when she enters the pool, it’s a whole other world.

“You get into a zone when you’re on the blocks, out there racing,’’ she said. “When you’re on the deck, you have a little fun with your friends, cheer your teammates and stuff. But once you get behind those blocks, it’s just a different zone.’’

At the recent Bay State Games, held at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool, she competed in just one race - the 200 butterfly - but rolled to a 10-second win over Erica Smrcina of Falmouth with a time of 2:28.99.

Her Southeast/Coastal squad placed third overall during the weekend.

But that race was supposed to serve as a dry run, she said, for this weekend in Texas. Starting today, swimming with the Magnus Aquatics Group out of Norton, she will be racing in all four of the strokes at the Speedo Championship Series Sectionals at the University of Houston.

After starting out with her YMCA club, Cheng moved to the Norton club two years ago and has seen her results take off. She’s become one of the more dynamic members of the club, and has seen her skills translate well during the fall swimming season for Feehan coach Kyle Van Den Berghe.

Magnus Aquatics coach Carl Cederquist, who said he believes that Cheng will compete at the Division 1 level in college, said she doesn’t have a bad stroke.

“She has the tenacity to just keep at it,’’ he said. “It’s a tough sport, it can kick you in the butt a few times, but she just keeps coming back for more. Her work ethic compared to what it was two years ago, she handles things a lot better than she was originally able to.

“She’s always on time. She works to the hardest of her abilities. She gives 110 percent at every practice.’’

For Cheng, the key lies in attention to detail.

At an early age, she was taught not to overlook the little things; she even attended technique camps at the Blodgett Pool to help perfect what she had already been learning for years.

“You have to have good strength. You have to have good technique in order to swim fast,’’ she said. “Things like streamlining off the wall, not breathing off the turn. Stuff like that.’’

There are no college plans yet, but Cheng has put together quite a resume out of the pool.

In addition to her straight A’s and membership in the National Honor Society, she tutors schoolmates in geometry. And at Christmas she serves as a tour guide in the school’s “Santa’s Shop’’ program, which gives disadvantaged families the opportunity to select donated toys as presents.

Brendan Hall can be reached at bhall59@hotmail.com