Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Pulido is new to Santa Maria, but no stranger to swimming. The eighth grader moved here from Bakersfield with her mother in January, and has been swimming for coach Mike Ashmore and the Santa Maria Swim Club ever since.
Coach Ashmore doesn’t mince words about his swimmer: “She’s probably one of the best racers I’ve ever coached. She has talent and a great work ethic.”
When asked, Elizabeth said she’s been swimming “basically, my whole life.”
“I was in diapers when my mom put me in the water,” she explained. “I was 5 when I made the team. I looked up to my brother and sister, who both swam in high school. My brother went on to football, and my sister went on to cheerleading. I stuck with swimming.”
Sticking with it seems to have paid off. Pulido recently returned from the Far Western Age Group Championships in San Jose where she won the 200 and 400 free; and the 100 and 200 backstroke in the 11- to 12-year-old girls’ competition.
What’s her strategy when it comes to swimming?
“I had to drop time every race,” she said. “Every day, I try to compete in everything, so hopefully I get faster.”
She’s already gotten fast enough to move ahead: As of Aug. 31, Pulido will be moving up to the Santa Maria Swim Club’s high performance group. Coach Ashmore likens it to a player moving up to first string.
“It’s a group made up of national-level qualifiers,” he said. “Her first competition will be the Speedo Championship Series regional competition. It won’t be divided by age like the Far Western—it’s straight up whoever has the fastest swimming ability.”
As someone who likes “everything” about swimming, Pulido said she most enjoys “meeting new people and coaches that push me a lot.”
Without having to think about it, she said that her heroes in the sport are Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps. Her coach noted that there’s a lot of the two Olympians in his swimmer: “When she has a challenge in front of her, she will rise to it.”
This article appears in Aug 13-20, 2009.
