Lake Wales' Hardman looks to add more gold at state swim meet
Lake Wales junior Mary Leigh Hardman owns more individual state titles — three — than any other girls swimmer in Polk County history, and she is looking to add to her medal haul.
Hardman is in a good position to accomplish that goal when she competes in the 2022 FHSAA Class 2A Girls Swimming and Diving Meet on Saturday at the Sailfish Splash Waterpark in Stuart.
Polk County does not have anyone competing in the 1A meet on Friday. On Saturday, in addition to Hardman, McKeel has three individuals, Lily Jonsson, Bryce Palmer and Haidyn Beall for the girls and Sebastian Stacey for the boys in the meet as well as four relay teams.
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The meet was originally scheduled for last weekend but was postponed due to Hurricane Nicole.
"Originally, it wasn't my preference that it was this week, I'd rather it be last Saturday, but you never know," Hardman said. "It could be a blessing in disguise. It could be a good thing for me."
Hardman heads into the meet seeded first in the 100-yard freestyle and second in the 50-free after winning at the region meet. It wasn't necessarily a goal to win both as much as she just wanted to swim good times.
"It just sort of happened (winning)," she said. "I didn't go in saying I'm going to win both. I thought I had a good shot, but I had no idea. It was a very big and a nice surprise."
As a freshman, she won both events for her two state titles. Last season, after winning the 100-free and finishing second in the 50-free at regionals, she won the 50-free and finished second in the 100-free.
The events will be competitive. In the 50-free last year, Hannah Ahn of Eastside was seeded first after the preliminaries but Hardman swam 23.82 to win the event. Madison Lehman finished second in 23.83 and Ahn took third in 24.09.
Ahn goes into the preliminaries this year seeded first with a time of 24.03, and Hardman is second at 24.13, tied with Mater Lakes' Michelle Fernandez.
In the 100-free last year, Hardman qualified tied for first with Estero's Giulina Carlini after both swam 51.71 in the preliminaries. In the final, Carlini took first in 51.43, and Hardman finished second in 51.53.
Hardman is seeded first in the 100-free this year with a time of 51.75, and Tampa Holy Names' Isabella Dieffenthaller is second with a time of 51.82.
"Mindset-wise, I think she's strong enough," Lake Wales coach Ana Pizaro said. "She's very aware that this is going to be a very tough meet."
Said Hardman: "I'm definitely excited. I have a lot of high expectations for myself. I'd love to win, but if I don't, that will be OK. But I do hope I win another state title."
Although this is her third straight year qualifying for the state meet, she said it's still a little nerve-racking to compete in the big event.
"I try to turn that energy into excitement for my race," she said. "I'm probably more confident my sophomore and junior years because I've been there since my freshman year."
McKeel aims for two swims on Saturday
McKeel coach Roy Wilshire has one goal for his swimmers at the 2A meet.
"Our goal is to have two swims," Wilshire said. "Swim in the morning and then in one of the event finals (finals or consolation finals) and see how it plays out."
The preliminaries are in the morning and the top 16 qualify to swim again. The top eight will compete in the finals and the next eight in the consolation finals.
In the girls individual events, Beall, a senior, is seeded 10th in diving, Jonsson, a freshman, is seeded 14th in the 500 free, and Palmer is seeded 16th in the 100 breaststroke, so all three are in a position to get past the preliminaries.
Stacey is seeded 15th in the 50-free, so he also is in a position to have two swims.
"Obviously, I have high expectations," Wilshire said. "The week delay, and not for just my kids but for everybody, threw us a little bit of a curve. The mindset was for last weekend, so it's been a little bit different in that respect. Once we get into that environment, we've trained the kids to do their very best."
For Jonsson and Palmer, this will continue to give them good experience in high school swimming. Jonsson's goal is to not just get past the preliminaries but to break Skylar Peterson's school record in the 500-free. This is her third time competing in the state meet.
For Stacey, there's a wide range of places he could finish. While the two seven qualifiers have times of 22.20 or faster, spots eight through 16 are between 22.28 and 22.48. Stacey qualified with a mark of 22.44.
In the relay, the McKeel girls are seeded 14th in the 200 medley relay and 17th in the 400 freestyle relay. The boys are seeded 18th in the 400 free relay and 21st in the 200 free relay.
Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com or at 863-802-7526. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lake Wales' Hardman looks to add more gold at state swim meet
