For some people, swimming is more than a hobby. To succeed in competitive swimming takes a huge commitment and a lot of hard work, but one First Flight student has proven that the hard work pays off.

Sophomore Sarah Mandis travels six days a week to Great Bridge, Va., where she practices and competes with a swim team at the Old Dominion Aquatic Club (ODAC). Her ODAC team practices year-round for three hours on weekdays and again on Saturday mornings, taking a  three-week break in August. The ODAC swim team travels to meets all along the East Coast, which are usually held once a month. Mandis is also on the FFHS swim team that practices November through January. She trains with Olympic-style coaches in Virginia as she has a lot of potential and big plans for her future in swimming.

“I hope to get a swim scholarship to a college, eventually go to the Olympic trials and hopefully the Olympics,” Mandis said.

In the summer of 2013, Mandis qualified for the National Club Swimming Association (NCSA) Junior National Championship Long Course Swim Meet as a part of a relay team in Indianapolis, Ind. She also competed in the 400- and 200-freestyle while she was there. Mandis also swam 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle in the 2013 Virginia Short Course Senior Championships, finishing with times of 25.91 and 55.10. Average times for these events are 26.39 and 57.19, according to the 2012 Olympic Trial Standards.

“It was a really fun experience and I witnessed a lot of very fast swims,” Mandis said. “I hope to qualify again this season.”

Mandis says her specialty stroke is distance freestyle. However, she competes in all strokes. She enjoys competing in the butterfly and backstroke as well.

“Usually I swim (every stroke) in school meets just because it’s fun to do events I don’t get a chance to swim in Virginia,” Mandis said. “I absolutely love high school swimming and I plan to be on the team all four years.”

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