High school swimming: Why Saint Joe's Sam Sierra was destined to end up at Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND — There was a phone call that put South Bend Saint Joseph senior swimmer Sam Sierra on the path to his dream school.

It was around a year ago, during his junior season, when former Notre Dame swimming coach Michael Litzinger called Sierra at home with a challenge. If Sierra wanted to be part of the Irish' swim team, he had to hit certain time marks, especially in one of Sierra's best events — the 100-yard butterfly.

"I knew I could be on the team," Sierra said, recalling that phone call. "Now I just had to show it.”

Growing up, Sierra always had love for Notre Dame. He has always gone to Catholic schools, beginning with Holy Family, then to Saint Joseph.

His eighth-grade history teacher would blast the Notre Dame fight song as Sierra and his classmates walked out of the room at the end of the day to go to their parents' cars. As a kid, Sierra attended Notre Dame summer football camps, where he recalls former Irish defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder screaming like a military instructor.

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There was nothing, though, that would deter his goal of being an Irish swimmer. That phone call with Litzinger told him how to get there.

And once he hit those times, Sierra's college decision was already made.

“Once the Notre Dame coach offered him a spot on the team," Sam's mother, Alison Sierra, said, "it was just Notre Dame. There wasn't really another way he wanted to go.”

On Nov.10, 2021, Sierra officially completed that goal when he signed his national letter of intent with Notre Dame.

"I'm really excited," Sierra said. "It is going to be really fun. Growing up in South Bend, it is really exciting for me. I love going to all of the football games, basketball games, so it is really just an exciting thing for me."

Dominant in high school

Swimming runs through Sierra's family like a quick breaststroke down the length of the pool.

Sierra's sister, Evie, is currently a sophomore swimmer at Purdue. Alison Sierra was a collegiate swimmer at the University of Tennessee in the 1980s and is currently an assistant coach at Saint Joseph. She was the one that got her kids in the pool at an early age.

“We were in swimming when they were little, like mommy and me and some of the other stuff," she said. "They picked up on it and the camaraderie, the team.”

Sierra's dominance in the pool started early, qualifying for his age group state club meet at a young age.

He tried a lot of other sports, too, playing baseball, basketball and football in middle school. But Sierra chose swimming to focus on for his future.

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Todd Tobolski, Saint Joseph's current swim coach, was South Bend Clay's swimming coach for 21 years, including three years ago, when Sierra began his high school career.

Tobolski's oldest son, Thomas, was on a relay team at Saint Joseph with Sierra that year, so he always heard about how fast Sierra was in the water.

Then, he saw him in person.

“You don’t come across kids that good that often," Tobolski said.

In his four years with the Indians, Sierra has been a four-year letter winner, won the "Most Valuable Freshman” award, shared or won the team MVP every year (and will most likely again this year), has won the last two Northern Indiana Conference MVP's — and is in line to win it again this year.

"He is by far probably one of the hardest workers in the water that I have had in all my years coaching," Tobolski said. "He really pushes himself to be the best that he can all the time."

Recently, in the NIC and at Saint Joseph, Sierra has been at the top of many leader boards.

At the conference meet his junior season, he broke the NIC record in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly events. He also holds the school record for the 200-yard IM and barely missed the school record for the 100-yard butterfly, Sierra's favorite event, which he is still gunning for down the final stretch of his senior year.

Success like that doesn't only come with hard work. Sierra pushes himself in all aspects, physically and mentally. Oftentimes, especially this season when Saint Joseph only has seven boys on its team, Sierra is far and away the most talented swimmer in the pool. But he has a mindset that pushes him to get better every day.

“I always like to think there is someone better than you, no matter how good you are," he said. "So just push yourself to be the best you can."

Over the past two seasons, he also had Litzinger's goals to work towards.

“You put that in the back of your mind and remind yourself every day what those goals are," he said. "It is just motivation. You come out every day and do the same thing, the same routine."

A coaching change

Everything happened so fast.

Back in September, Sierra took his visit to Notre Dame, where everything he experienced confirmed his devotion to the school. A couple of weeks later, his transcript got approved by admissions and he was offered a spot on the team by Litzinger.

He took a couple of weeks to think about it, with Purdue being his other option, just to give it his due diligence. But Notre Dame was always going to be the choice.

And a couple of weeks after that, Litzinger resigned.

For many recruits, that would send the process back to square one, re-thinking just about everything. But Sierra was going to Notre Dame, not just for swimming, but also for his love of the school.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be a big deal and that Notre Dame would hire somebody that was going to be good and do the job well," he said.

It also helped that he had a close high school friend on the team in current Irish freshman swimmer Mary-Cate Pruitt, who helped affirm the commitment to Notre Dame.

“She told me it was really shocking to her and the team because they didn’t hear anything about it, so it was kind of disappointing to them," Sierra said. "She told me what I told you, that Notre Dame was going to hire somebody who fits the role well."

One final state meet

Before Sierra joins Notre Dame, there are still some goals to complete at Saint Joseph, which includes qualifying for this year's state meet, to be held February 25-26 at IUPUI's Natatorium in Indianapolis.

"The goal is to be top eight in both of his events," Tobolski said.

Last year, Sierra barely made that mark in the 100-yard butterfly, sneaking in at eighth place with a time of 49.53, just behind Penn's Joseph Radde.

In the 200-yard IM, he finished fourth with a time of 1:52.35, just in front of South Bend Riley's Michael Burns.

Both Radde and Burns have graduated, but the competition at state will be as tough as ever with the swimmers from Carmel, a perennial power in Indiana.

Sierra isn't focused on that, though. What he cares most about is what he can control, which means better times than the year before.

In the end, Sierra believes that will put him in the most successful position.

“Just improve, keep at it every day," he said. "The goal is state and has been the goal to swim well there. That is really the plan, and I am excited to see what I can do."

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame gets a dominant swimmer with South Bend Saint Joseph senior