What inspired you to start swimming? 

My mom was a swimmer in high school and so she just kind of told me about it so it’s something I took interest in.

What is your relationship with your team and your coach?

I would say we’re definitely all pretty close. It’s just a good environment to be in and I just love being a part of the Grandview swim team. 

What is your favorite thing about swimming? 

My favorite thing about swimming is that my teammates just make the sport worth doing and so much better than just swimming to swim. They just make it so fun. 

In your opinion, what is the hardest swimming stroke for you? 

The hardest swim stroke for me is probably breaststroke.

What is the hardest part of swimming as a whole for you? 

The hardest part for me is probably just staying consistent with it because it’s really easy just to wake up at the really early time and just not wanna go. So just the motivation and just going to every practice.

What has been your most memorable match at Grandview and why? 

The most memorable match this season, or just for all of our season, is probably the one against CT just because they’re our rival school. We just all wanna beat them, so it’s just pretty competitive and the cheering gets really loud and it’s pretty fun. 

How has swimming changed your personal life and what lessons do you take away from the sport? 

I guess for swimming, what you put in is kind of what you get out. The more practice you go to and the more work you put into it out of school and in season and off season- just the better you’re gonna be. 

How do you bond with your team outside of practice? 

Outside of practice, we do a lot of team bonding things after every meet. We usually go to a team dinner and we have this sleepover. That’s pretty fun. It’s just at one of our houses and we all just kind of give each other rides. Definitely in-school friendships become out-of-school friendships. 

How do you balance your sport with schoolwork? 

I usually just try to use my off periods and after practice to get things done.I am usually done with practice around 6:00 or 6: 15. I’ll just go home and do homework. It’s a kind of balancing and I feel like with senior year, it’s definitely easier than the other years. 

When did you really start to take swimming seriously? 

I really started to take some seriously entering high school. I only had swam for like a year and a half before high school. When I joined the swim team, I just realized that it was something that I really wanted to do and just get better at. 

Do you have any advice for aspiring swimmers? 

I’d say just understanding how hard it is, but also making good connections with your teammates because they’ll be the ones to really push you and make you love the team and love the sport and just want to do it better.