NATCHEZ — Ten-year-old Mallory Claire Dickey’s day begins early in the morning when she wakes up early to do her exercises and study for tests before showering and heading to Cathedral School.

Dickey is a fifth-grade student at Cathedral and has a love for science, but after school is when she starts the long process of chasing down her long-term dreams.

Dickey, her mother, Leigh, and her brother, Carter, hit the road for an hour-and-a-half trip to Vicksburg to practice with the Vicksburg Swim Association.

Dickey completes her homework assignments on the way to Vicksburg, and the family usually arrives at approximately 4:30 or 5 p.m.

Mallory Claire and Carter then spend a few hours in the pool working on techniques, strokes and stamina.

The family eats dinner, which includes a strict diet of lean meats, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, on the ride back home to Natchez, and Mallory Claire’s head hits the pillow — sometimes not until past 10 p.m. — exhausted, and she falls asleep to do it all over again the next day.

The Dickeys do this six times a week except on weekends that the children have swim meets.

Mallory Claire said this schedule leaves little time for birthday parties, sleepovers and other activities that most pre-teen girls enjoy, and she sometimes feels she misses out, but after another successful swim meet is completed she says it’s worth it.

“Sometimes she really wants to go (to activities), but in the end I’ll ask her, ‘Was it worth it?’” Leigh said. “And she says, ‘Yes.’”

All of Mallory Claire’s hard work paid off for her this past weekend in the form of two Mississippi State Short Course Championships at the state meet in Biloxi.

The two state championships were a culmination of four years of Mallory Claire training and competing in the sport that she believes she was born to do.

“I wanted to learn how to swim and once I started it looked really fun, and I wanted to compete against other people,” she said.

Mallory Claire took to competitions very early in her career.

“She was 6 at her first swim meet in Hattiesburg,” Leigh said. “We didn’t know what to expect, and she didn’t even know what the starting block was. I just told her to dive in and swim to the other end, and she came in third.”

Mallory Claire was also 6 years old when she won her first race.

She qualified for the state championships when she was 7 years old and has been participating in the event each year since, but this year was the first she was able to bring home a championship.

Mallory Claire competed in seven events and finished runner-up in five and won the 100-meter backstroke and the 50-meter backstroke.

She said backstroke is her favorite event and also her best.

“It’s just the one God chose for me,” she said.

Mallory Claire’s performance in short-course competition this season has also earned her the opportunity to compete for sectionals in Greensboro, N.C. March 15-19. Mallory Claire is one of only five Mississippi 10-year-old girls that qualified. She will compete in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle and 50-meter and 100-meter backstroke.

“I’m excited about getting to swim against people from other places,” she said.

The sectional meet will feature swimmers from eight different states across the southeast, Leigh said.

Mallory Claire said she knows the competition will be stiff at sectionals, but her goals are still set pretty high.

“I want to finish top 20,” she said. “I’d be really excited if I made top 10, I’d be amazed if I get top 5.”

Leigh said Mallory Claire has to overcome a lot to be a competitive swimmer. She is one of the smallest competitors in her age group, and Leigh said Mallory Claire is not yet strong enough to compete in the butterfly.

“She’s competing against girls that are 5’4” and 5’5” that have feet bigger than mine,” Leigh said.

Mallory Claire said her desire is what gives her an advantage.

“Seeing (swimmers) ahead of me makes me want to catch up and try to beat them,” she said. “I kick harder and hold my breath longer.”

Leigh said her daughter’s success comes from her drive to get better.

“The thing that makes her so good to me is that she is so focused and dedicated,” Leigh said. “I don’t know another child that would travel three hours a day to do the sport they love.”

Mallory Claire hopes her dedication and love for swimming will take her a long way.

She hopes to eventually be a member of the Texas Longhorn swim team. She attended swim camp in Austin, Texas a couple of years ago and really liked the coaches, facilities and the team, she said.

But her main goal is to end up on swimming’s biggest stage like her idol Natalie Coughlin.

“I want to go to the Olympics and win gold,” Mallory Claire said.

After that Mallory Claire hopes to become a dentist like her father Trey, she said.

Until then Mallory Claire will continue her rigorous training schedule while remaining a straight-A student at Cathedral and trying to become the top female swimmer in her age group in the state — she is already top 5.

Mallory Claire also wants to take her swimming abilities into other athletic events, she said. She hopes to participate in a triathlon soon and was signed up to do so, but it fell on the same weekend as the sectional swim meet.