Darkness and gloomy clouds dominate the sky as, one by one, members of the Vicksburg Killer Whales arrive at City Pool.

Floodlights, and not sunshine, flicker off the water as two dozen teenagers stagger, zombie-like, inside the gate and begin their morning routine.

Lane lines go in, while kickboards, flippers and water bottles are carefully placed along the deck.

By 6:15 a.m. they’ve embarked on their journey through the water, and by the time most of their classmates wake up a couple of hours later they’ve already completed the grueling workout — about 5,000 meters in the water and another 30 minutes of dry land exercises.

It’s the price of success, and the Killer Whales are willing to pay it.

“You get used to it. It’s really not as hard as it seems. Just set an alarm clock, get something to eat and you’re fine,” said 14-year-old Tommy Martin, who is vying to compete in the United States Swimming Sectional Meet later this year in North Carolina.

The VSA’s home base for the summer is City Pool, which is an outdoor facility. Because of that, the early-morning workouts are almost a necessity. Waiting even a couple of hours would put them under a blazing hot sun.

Getting into the water near sunrise also leads to some interesting sights. Overnight, bugs fall into the pool that hasn’t been cleaned yet. On this morning, swimmers did flip turns in the shallow end alongside a large moth that had fallen in and drowned in the wee hours of the morning.

Other sights are less grisly.

“It’s hot during the summer, so we get out here at 6 to try to beat a little bit of the heat. The water’s already warm,” VSA coach Mathew Mixon said. “Sometimes it’s nice. We’ve seen some double rainbows. We’ve seen some great sunrises. It can be a good way to start your day sometimes.”

Sometimes it’s hard to see the rainbows, though. Between looking at the bottom of the pool, and looking at the morning through half-closed eyes, it’s hard to see much of anything.

“They come in like zombies some mornings, and we’ll do the zombie swim for a minute until they get going,” Mixon said with a laugh. “I think when I was swimming, I mastered swimming with my eyes closed almost. So I’m sure some of them can half sleep swim for the first 30 minutes.”

As the workout goes on, however, the Killer Whales gradually wake up. Tired grunts give way to lively banter as they churn faster and faster through the water.

Any discontent at giving up a precious morning of sleeping late in the summer also gives way to a sense of pride at conquering the dawn.

“It’s more like, ‘Why am I waking up this early? Why can’t I be sleeping?’ Then I remember that if I’m late, coach will probably make me swim more,” said 12-year-old VSA swimmer Leah Larson. “Just being able to text my friends at 6 in the morning and say, ‘Hey, I’m up and you’re not!’ is fun.”

The reward for all of the Whales’ hard work shows up in how they compete in meets. Most of them have achieved qualifying times for the Mississippi Swimming, Inc. Long Course State Championship July 22 and 23 in Tupelo.

The VSA also finished third in the team standings at its last major meet, the Stamm Family Invitational at City Pool in June.

The VSA will host the VSA Last Chance Meet on Friday at City Pool. Mixon said swimming with the sunrise has paid dividends in competition.

“It’s a hard sell, but it’s something they pull from when they get to that big meet,” Mixon said. “They know they got up early those mornings and sacrificed that time, and they look over at the next lane and can see that that guy didn’t. So they can draw from that when it’s time to race fast.”

Further down the line, Mixon added, is when it’ll really pay off. The self-discipline required to wake up at 5 a.m., get in the water by 6, and do more by 8:30 than most teenagers do all day, builds character in a way few sports can.

“It’s a great group of kids. It’s hard to get any teenager — and it’s even harder to get coaches — up at 6 a.m. to get to the pool,” Mixon said. “Then you come out here regularly, routinely, and have 20 older kids out here training at 6 a.m. They’re doing hard training, too. It’s not the fun kind. It’s putting in the hard work kind. It takes a lot for kids to do that. It’s good discipline, and it’s good for the future and what’s coming for them in life.”