Calvert has always led a rather nomadic life. She left New Mexico and her initial aquatic failure behind for Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, and then moved first to Alabarna and then to California, where she finished high school. After another move back to Kwajalein, her family took up residence in Jaspar, Alabama, this year.

During her first stay in Alabama, Calvert became a competitive swimmer.

"When I go to Alabama, I joined the neighborhood swim team and I found out that I was better than all my friends," she says.

When I was 14, I really got serious, doing a lot of double work-outs. I would get up at four in the morning, practice from five to seven, go to school from eight to two, do weights from two to three, and swim from three to six. Then I'd go home eat, talk on the phone for an hour until I realized I was exhausted, and go to sleep."

Obviously, the dedicated has paid off, and not just in the pool. In December, Calvert made it to the final round of competition for the Rhodes Scholarship as one of two representatives from Alabana.

"I think Shelby is unique in this she is the type of person who would decide to apply at West Point in the first place and would decide two years later that that wasn't really for her," Coach Hays says of her captain "Shelby is a very independent soul. She is a great combination of people. She can work hard and encourage others to work hard and meanwhile maintain a positive self-image."