"She can always perform and has a consistent time in practice," said first-year Bryan swim coach Mike Ortiz, who says Young's greatest strength might be in distance races. "In practice, she will give you a time almost identical to the one before. She's been in club swimming since she was 12, and when you're 18, you built up the athleticism."

Young believes her young team is developing similar traits.

"There have been a lot of ups and downs, but we've come together as a team and meshed really well," Young said. "Everybody's improved."

Young's ability and consistent hard work will allow her to continue her swimming in college, where she will follow in the swimming wake of former Viking standout Daniel Karkoska.

Karkoska is already at Ouachita Baptist in Arkansas, and Young will compete there next year.

"My mom was looking for a smaller college for me and thought smaller classes would be better for me because I have dyslexia," Young said. "Daniel looked up there, and really liked it and talked me into going. I did not want to go to Arkansas, but as soon as I got there, I loved it. The trees were changing, and they were red. The campus is pretty with hills. There aren't many hill here."

Consistency in workouts doesn't tell the story of Young's ability to overcome adversity. Her competitiveness helped Bryan to a second-place team finish at the District 13-5A meet last year in a comeback effort in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Bryan's win in that race allowed the Vikings to overtake A&M Consolidated in the team competition.

She had been heartbroken and in tears after a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle earlier but battled back to win a stirring race.

"I kind of messed up on the 200 and stopped too early," said Young, who also swam the 500 freestyle. "I got second on both my races, so I guess I did OK."

Overcoming challenges and setbacks is nothing new for Young.

She was home-schooled until midway through her ninth grade year and found the transition to public schools difficult because of the dyslexia.

"It was really hard adjusting to that, and it showed when I went to public school because of the pace," Young said. "I learned to cope with it, learned little things that helped, and my grades and GPA have gotten higher."

With her mother, Sheralin, Megan researched strategies to succeed in spite of her dyslexia.

"Reading was hard for me," Megan said. "I would forget what I read after reading for an hour. I learned to take notes on the side and highlight, and that helps a lot."

She said that some people with dyslexia find reading backwards on white paper can provide a harsh view which leads to headaches.

"They have this clear sheet that's light blue that you can see through," she said.

Her father, Henry, is also dyslexic.

"Dad helped a lot with the math, and Mom helped more with the reading," Young said. "The math was hard because I would get things switched."

Young's goal is to make it to the swimming finals at regional. She just missed that a year ago and was an alternate. She will be among the favorites when the district meet is held at the Texas A&M Student Rec Center Natatorium on Jan. 25.

"It's good," Young said of A&M's facility. "It's cold, but it's nice. The water is real cold, but some people like it better that way."

Ortiz had worked with Young before, as assistant coach on the Brazos Splash club team. That experience helped open the door for Ortiz, a 2007 Texas A&M graduate, to take over the Bryan High job.

"I've had three different coaches, and I'm a senior," Young said. "[Ortiz] seems to have the most experience, and he's more down to earth."

Ortiz returns the compliment.

"She's an elite swimmer with great potential," Ortiz said "She has great leadership abilities."

A deeper team gives Consol the edge at the Crosstown Showdown on Thursday at A&M's Natatorium.

"I think a lot of people get intimidated because [Consol's team] is bigger, but it doesn't stop me," said Young.

There are two juniors on Bryan's team, and all of the others are freshmen and sophomores.

"I think they have just taken to the idea that I'm the senior," Young said of her leadership role. "I think a lot of them look up to me, but I'm not forcing that on them. They are really young, but they have a lot of potential."

At this point, Ortiz believes that Young's experience means she knows what races best suit her. He is likely to allow her to have more say in what races she swims.

"Megan is the swimmer you can count on to do any race, and she can consistently win," Ortiz said. "She does well in long distance, middle distance or sprinting, any stroke."

• David Campbell's e-mail address is david.campbell@theeagle.com.