High school girls swimming: Mexico's von Holtz in final season before heading to Ball State

Sep. 14—MEXICO — Alexa von Holtz broke through another barrier for the Mexico High School girls swimming team before starting her senior season.

The Section 3 standout recently verbally committed to swim for Division I Ball State University next year, making her intentions known early this summer well in advance of her sixth and final varsity season.

Entering with a slew of records and milestone achievements already accrued, von Holtz will guide the new combined Mexico/Oswego girls swim team into its season opener on Sept. 13 at Skaneateles.

She is believed to be the first girls swimmer from Mexico to secure a Division I athletic scholarship, according to athletic director Andrew Gates, though the program has produced past walk-ons and multiple Division II scholarship athletes.

Alexa von Holtz and her father, Dave, spent months researching offers from a variety of college teams at different levels before she ultimately decided to join the Cardinals of the Mid-American Conference.

"It was definitely a stressful time, and I just hope that I can make it easier on the girls coming up knowing what I know now," Alexa von Holtz said.

The von Holtz family created a spreadsheet as recruiting offers started coming in, accounting for each school's conference, proximity to home, acceptance rate, and graduation rate, among other key factors.

After narrowing down to a final three choices, they further dissected each program and sifted through record boards to find the ideal situation to be challenged while having a chance to contribute to team scoring.

"It was definitely tense at times, just trying to figure out what is the best choice from all the offers that were out there," said Dave von Holtz, who is also entering his first season as Mexico head coach after six years as an assistant.

"I think ultimately between the financial incentive and the conference, and the program overall, Ball State just stood out. As a father, it was the farthest one from home, so that was the only hard part."

Alexa von Holtz plans to study pre-med and the academic program she will enter played a prominent role in her decision.

She pointed to the appeal of the campus community in Muncie, Ind. Von Holtz also quickly identified a strong fit with Ball State head coach Jeremy 'J.' Agnew, comparing him to former Mexico coach, Shawn Parkhurst, who stepped down at the end of last season.

"They have a beautiful campus, and the coach is awesome," von Holtz said. "He reminds me a lot of (Parkhurst). One of the things he told me was that no matter what, he's always going to be rooting for me, and that was kind of like that: 'A ha. This is the coach for me.'"

Alexa von Holtz has an aunt living less than an hour from her soon-to-be new home and will coincidentally be joined by a former Section 3 competitor, Kayla Newman.

The fellow verbal commit from the same recruiting cycle began her varsity swim career at Syracuse Christian Brothers Academy before moving out of the area. Newman now competes for Highland Park High School in Illinois.

"We swam opposite events, but we'd always talk on the deck, and she is such a great person to be around," von Holtz said. "I'm excited to finally be on a team with her."

The Mexico senior enters the upcoming season with five Section 3 Class B records in her possession, per the marks listed at section3swim.com.

She tops the all-time lists for for the 100 butterfly (55.4 seconds), 200 freestyle (1:52.63), 200 individual medley (2:04.20), 100 free (52.12), and 100 backstroke (58.37). Her record in the 100 fly stands atop Section 3 for all combined classes.

Alexa von Holtz became the first girls swimmer in school history to advance to the state championships during her inaugural varsity season as a seventh grader, and she has reached every state meet conducted since.

As a junior last season, von Holtz finished third in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 fly to reach two podiums at the state Class B meet.

She identified returning as a state place finisher and garnering All-American status after narrowly missing the cut last year as individual objectives for the upcoming season.

She is also aiming to contribute to another team relay at states after the Tigers sent at least one relay squad to back-to-back state meets in 2019 and 2021.

"I'd love to be an All-American," von Holtz said. "Last year I made the consideration cut, but I was a little off from making All-American. I definitely want to make that list this year and I think I'll have a chance in multiple events to hit it."