Stanford-bound Fossil Ridge swimmer Lucy Bell aims for victory lap at final state swim meet

There's a saying that Fossil Ridge High School and Fort Collins Area Swim Team coach Jimmy Rodriguez likes to use when coaching the sport.

"Happy swimmers are fast swimmers."

That may as well be a thesis statement to explain SaberCats senior swimmer Lucy Bell, who can add to her already-immense trophy case at this week's Class 5A state championship meet in Thornton.

The Stanford-bound Bell is favored to essentially three-peat in the 100-yard freestyle and the 200 individual medley — she was a two-time defending 200 IM champion but skipped the race last year due to a COVID-altered state meet schedule.

Instead, Bell pulled off a unique double, winning the 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly while helping her SaberCats teammates win the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay titles.

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She's already made the Olympic Swimming Trials, competing last summer in Omaha for a shot at Tokyo. Bell is absolutely a possible contender for the U.S. team in 2024.

And that's just a small glimpse into her feats, spanning Colorado races and national meets at the high-school and club levels.

But picture an elite athlete, especially in a often-individual sport like swimming. The common image is typically of a hyper-focused, perhaps self-serious person.

By all accounts, that is not Bell. Or at least not the latter part.

After all, you don't win like Bell has without a strong level of focus and intensity.

But remember Rodriguez's emphasis on fun? That's much closer to who Bell is, even in her competitive swimming sphere.

"She’s an awesome teammate and really positive, honestly even kind of dorky in a super nice way," said Fossil Ridge junior and FAST relay teammate Sydnee O'Neil. "I'm always kind of shocked to see her swim these amazing times and then she gets out and starts playing Candy Crush or something."

Bell describes herself, O'Neil, junior Kenadie Glasgow and junior Renee Gillilan (a two-time 100 butterfly state champ and Notre Dame commit) as "four best friends" in and out of the pool as relay teammates.

Glasgow echoed O'Neil's words about Bell's lightheartedness and said she always has something goofy or funny to say to liven up practice.

"Plus, her playlists are always great," Glasgow said. Rodriguez remembers a race last year when Bell warmed up via TikTok dances instead of her typical routine.

"She got away with it, and she still won," he said with a hearty laugh.

Glasgow recalled a more reserved Bell moving to Fort Collins in seventh grade after living in California and Hawaii. As a middle-schooler, Bell swam a 200 breaststroke event at a club meet, wowing competitors and spectators.

"Since then, she’s just been this breakout, amazing athlete," Glasgow said. "Seeing her get so fast and all the accomplishments she’s had is cool, but she remains so kind and humble with all of it."

The attitude is obvious and infectious. In the sport of swimming, club levels often trump prep affiliation and there isn't always the same investment in a high school team, especially for a top performer like Bell.

"For someone super invested in club swimming, she’s just as invested in the school team, and that can be hard to find," Rodriguez said. "She cares about everybody on the team and she wants them to feel just as connected to her swimming as she is to theirs."

"It’s not like how Michael Jordan was in 'The Last Dance.' It’s the complete opposite of that."

Bell said she doesn't see her teammates as competition, even in the individual events.

"It’s definitely really helpful to race with them," Bell said. "With Renee, we swim most of the same events so it's really good to race her in practice. We joke that we never want to swim next to each other because we’re always going about the same speed."

But all the fun and support in the pool belies the drive out of it.

Even as the fifth-ranked 2022 recruit according to SwimCloud, Bell has kept her grades up to Stanford-admission levels. Plus, there are those swimming workouts, which Rodriguez said has been 10 weekly sessions (usually two-plus hours) that include four weekday doubles (two-a-days).

"I don’t know how she has the time to swim as fast as she does and maintain a ridiculous GPA like that," Rodriguez said.

Bell said it has two sources: her longtime desire to go to Stanford and her parents' education background, with father Michael working at Colorado State as a professor since 2016.

"Stanford was my dream school since I was 10 years old," Bell said. "It was the only school that truly piqued my interest outside of swimming. Even before I knew I could swim in college, I wanted to go there.

"And then in my family, I'm like the first one to really (focus on) sports. Growing up, we were a school-oriented family."

But before that next step to Stanford, Bell still has big goals at her final state meet. She'll even list them out for you:

• Win the 200 medley and 100 freestyle for a third time each, going under 49 seconds in the latter

• Help her teammates go back to back in the relay races, including a sixth straight 400 freestyle relay title for Fossil Ridge

• Finish at least fourth as a team despite a smaller number of qualifiers

• Threaten former Olympics star and Regis Jesuit standout Missy Franklin's state-record time in the 200 individual medley

And then there's a big-picture one: Get better and be prepared for the college level.

Bell said she admires former Stanford swimmer and four-time Olympic medalist Maya DiRado and models some techniques after the now-retired Olympian.

"My tempo is the big thing (to improve)," Bell said. "Anybody that watches me, they always tell me it doesn’t even look like I’m trying, which can be a good and bad thing. I'm trying to speed it up slightly for the sprint races and bounce off the walls a bit more."

Others would argue it's that smooth motion that allows her to glide through the water so fast. It's hard to argue with the results to date.

So yes, her final high-school swim meet is a big deal and she wants to win. But like Bell's approach to the sport as a whole, winning isn't entirely the point.

It's about the people she's winning with.

"It’s surreal to be here now as a senior," Bell said. "I’m really excited to have a last fun club season and state meet with all my best friends.

"It’d be a lot harder to get the motivation to come and actually work hard on my own if I wasn't doing it with them."

Chris Abshire is the sports and stats content coach at the Coloradoan. Contact him at ChrisAbshire@coloradoan.com. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fossil Ridge swimmer Lucy Bell seeks victory lap at Colorado state meet