Emily Mathis, who graduated from Orcutt Academy in June, left for Boise State on Aug. 20, but even with a big move looming, she decided to train with the Santa Maria Swim Club until the day she left.
“I swim today, Tuesday, and then leave Wednesday,” Mathis said on Aug. 18, and her break won’t last long. “I start training for Boise State on Monday.”
It’s not surprising, with all the training that she’s been kicking up a storm in the pool. Earlier in August, Mathis swam in Clovis for the Western Zone Senior Championship, where she swept the competition starting with the 200-meter breaststroke.
“I didn’t think I was going to win the event. I was seeded third into finals, so I wasn’t in the fastest lane, but I saw some girl pass me, and I didn’t want her to beat me,” Mathis said. “When I got out of the water, my coach gave me a big high five.”
Mathis didn’t just beat her competition at the Western Zone Championship, she also set a new Santa Maria Swim Club record that day, clearing a record set 25 years ago—Mathis’ time was 2:36.66, and the time she beat was 2:36.83. Mathis now joins her sister, Meghan Zimmer, in the record books at the swim club.
And that’s just the most recent show of how good a swimmer Mathis is. In the 2012-2013 school year, she became Orcutt Academy’s first Division 4 CIF champion for taking first in the 100-meter breaststroke. She repeated the feat again during the 2013-2014 school year, but not without a little added suspense during the race.
“I was last at the 50-meter point, and I saw people pass me. I didn’t want to let my team down,” Mathis said. “We were really close to getting third, so I needed to win so we could take second as a team.”
Mathis’ win secured Orcutt Academy’s second-place finish at CIF.
Mathis will swim the 200- and 400-meter breaststroke and individual medley at Boise State, where she is on a swimming scholarship for 40 percent of school costs. Mathis plans on studying exercise science at the university.
This article appears in Aug 21-28, 2014.