Hours before most of us will awaken Monday morning, Sean Ryan will wade into the Kazanka River in Kazan, Russia, at 5 a.m. EDT and begin a 10,000-meter swim that could guarantee him a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"It's supposed to be 75 degrees, which is ideal for open-water swimming," said McCallie School swimming coach Stan Corcoran, who developed the 2010 Blue Tornado graduate before he began a five-time All-America career at the University of Michigan. "If he can get a time of 1:52, 1:53, he should make it. But it's a tough race."
How tough is open-water swimming? Consider this email from Ryan's parents, Eugene and Margret, who arrived in Kazan late Saturday evening after a 25-hour trip from Chattanooga:
Wrote Margret: "Several swimmers have received yellow cards for actions against Sean in the past. He has come home with bruises and scratches."
Swimming? A contact sport? Who knew?
But the 23-year-old Ryan appears more than ready to bump and grind with as many as 49 other swimmers come Monday. He finished second to Jordan Wilimovsky at the U.S. Nationals in April, nipping 2012 Olympian Alex Meyer by .006 second for a spot in Russia.
"I haven't been on this river before," Ryan said two weeks ago before heading to Russia. "You're never sure what you'll get in open-water swimming. What will the current be like? The wind? The temperature? But it's the same for everybody. Once I started swimming these distances, I thought, 'This is the sport for me.'"
To assure himself a spot in Rio, Ryan needs to finish in the top 10. If both he and Wilimovsky finish in that group, both are in. If only one does, the other one would have to compete in a second qualifying race in 2016 to be one of the 25 male swimmers to qualify for the Olympic open-water 10K in Rio.
"If I don't make (the Olympics) this time, this is probably it," said Ryan, who is working on a master's degree in manufacturing engineering with hopes of one day working in the auto industry (are you listening, Volkswagen?). "I probably need to get out and start my career.
"But if I do make the Olympics, if I can make some money from it, I might keep going for four more years. We'll see."
If that happens, it might be because distance swimmers often reach their prime in their mid-20s.
"When Sean tried to qualify last time, he was a 19-year-old swimming against 26-year-olds," Corcoran said. "But now that he's 23, the curve has come down a bit. He's a great kid who works really hard, both in the pool and in school. When he was at McCallie he took like six (Advanced Placement) courses and made a 4 or 5 (5's the highest) on all of them. So I think he can do this."
If anyone had asked Corcoran 10 years ago if Ryan would be in this spot - when Corcoran began coaching the Hixson youngster as a 13-year-old eighth-grader - his response might have been far different.
"He really wasn't all that fast in middle school," Corcoran recalled. "He doesn't hold a single McCallie middle school record. But he's got two from his high school career - the 200 and the 500 - and I think he's gotten better every year since."
Somewhat amazingly, Ryan began swimming because, according to a USA Swimming profile, "It was good for my asthma."
Now the 6-foot-3 swimmer who struggles to keep 150 pounds on his slender frame - his nicknames are Bones and Skeletor - averages 20 hours a week in a pool, working on everything from long races to sprints.
"You'd think in a distance this long everyone would spread out," Ryan said. "But it's all pack swimming. There's a lot of drafting and positioning, kind of like the Tour de France in cycling."
Indeed, despite the inconsistency of river water for nearly two hours, Corcoran said Ryan's dedication to working on a 300-yard closing kick topped off with a 15-yard sprint to the finish could be his ace in the hole. Yet even then, the coach said, there's at least a measure of luck involved.
"In the nationals, as three of them are fighting for second," Corcoran recalled, "a big wave throws Sean over the other two. He touches the finish line .006 ahead of the third-place finisher. So he's in Russia by less than a quarter of an inch."
Nevertheless, he's there, all those days swimming in Chickamauga Lake or the Tennessee River with Masters swimmers Corcoran and Jimmy Welborn, all those afternoons at Michigan swimming hundreds of laps as the old-school sounds of Billy Joel mellowed his mood, finally paying off.
And at the hub of it all, according to Sean's mom, is Corcoran.
"I credit Stan with Sean's success," Margret Ryan wrote. "When Sean made the decision to have swimming pay for college, we had a meeting with Stan, (who then) created workouts for Sean above and beyond what the others wanted to do. There were many times (Sean) didn't want to go to practice. We just asked if he had reduced his goals. If so, he needed to talk to Stan and reduce his workouts. He always went to practice. Without Stan, I would not be sitting in Kazan this evening writing this note and Sean would not be where he is today."
Where Sean is today is less than 24 hours from possibly becoming a U.S. Olympian.
"To go to the Olympics, that's the highlight of swimming," Corcoran said. "I know I'll be jumping up and down if Sean makes it. That would be something."
Added Sean: "Being one good race from the Olympics is really special. But I'm not thinking about the Olympics right now. I'm just thinking about Kazan."
And hoping he can ride one more wave to Rio.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com