Contributing: Olivia Asimakis

The swimming & diving state meet is made up of the best swimmers in the state who come together to compete for first place. After three or four seasons of training, juniors and seniors make up the majority of these crowds, but occasionally there’s an outlier, like freshman Sam Villani.

Although she is one of the youngest qualifiers, Villani has been swimming for a long time.

“I would say since I was seven,” Villani said. “My parents really wanted me to get into the sport, and I liked it, so I continued the sport.”

Villani focuses primarily on the backstroke, which she swam at states.

“Mostly the 100 back and the 200 back. It’s my main stroke, it’s the stroke that I’m best at,” Villani said. “I did well, I came in thirteenth place in the 100 back.”

But Villani wasn’t just handed her spot at states, she had to qualify.

“Swimmers have to have time standards per event. And for relays, they have four individuals participating in a relay, in either the 200 medley, the 200 freestyle or the 400 freestyle relays, and those consist of four people with the best times that qualify for the best possible state qualifying cut time,” assistant coach Alison Scarfone said. “Basically,  it’s based on time standards—if you qualify for the time, then you are entered into the meet.”

Scarfone is proud of all the swimmers who met cut times and is happy to have Villani on the team.

“Well I’m always proud of any of the girls when they qualify for states, because it’s one of the most competitive moments for sure in high school,” Scarfone said. “It’s always a nice thing to see a young, hard worker that qualifies for a time and qualify for a meet like that.”

Scarfone sees Villani’s potential to improve, not only as a swimmer but a leader as well.

“Sam has a lot of experience swimming,” Scarfone said. “I hope that she gains some confidence mentally and physically works hard in the offseason … so that when she comes back she will be able to really be able to be confident as a sophomore and an upperclassmen and work on her leadership skills.”

Villani looks back at states with fondness.

“I thought it was really fun because it was such a great experience because I’ve never done it before,” Villani said. “I’ve never been to a meet like this. At my regular meets I only swam in my age group, and now I swam with a bunch of older girls, so it was fun.”