Maggie Hatfield had barely made it out of the pool in Sunday’s Emporia Last Chance Meet when she already started talking about swimming again in next week’s Division-II Championships.
“I’m excited,” the 8-year-old said, “because my mom says there’s lots of chances for me to medal.”
When the Emporia Aquatic Club member says “a lot of chances,” she means it too.
Hatfield led the EAC at its home meet on Saturday and Sunday, winning six of her seven events and also qualifying her 50 breaststroke time for the Division-I Championships in two weeks.
She now will swim four events at the D-2 Championships next week in Derby (50 fly, 50 free, 50 back, 100 breast) and will swim two more at the D-1 Championships in Kansas City (50 breast, 100 back) in two weeks.
Katie Scherich (Open, 50 and 100 free) and Regan Hastert (9-10, 50 and 100 free) were the other EAC athletes to earn qualifications, as both earned spots in the Division-II meet with qualifying times on Sunday.
Hatfield’s progress as a swimmer has been rapid. After starting the sport last August, she has already gotten her times down to where she could rival swimmers on the high school team.
“A lot of high schoolers are not as committed as she is,” EAC coach Melissa Williams said. “I could see her time being close (to theirs). She works harder, I think, than a lot of people.”
That has included going to Olympic swimmer Pablo Morales’ Camp in Nebraska this summer and also swimming every day, twice a day.
“She’s just awesome,” Williams said. “She works really hard at practice every day. Even on vacation, her mom still gets her in the water. She’s really committed.”
The top eight swimmers in each event earn medals at the Division-II and Division-I Championships.
Scherich, 15, also has been helped by her work in the summer, as she attended a swimming camp at the University of Texas. While there, she endured three workouts a day, with each session lasting about two hours.
“It’s tough. You work a lot more on endurance and training in swimming than you do in a lot of other sports,” Scherich said. “You’ve got to love the training to love the sport.”
On Sunday, Scherich sliced six seconds off her time in the 200 free and also lowered her mark in the 50 free.
“I felt pretty good today,” Scherich said. “I haven’t swam in a meet in awhile, and I was able to cut time.”
Hastert qualified in the 50 free with a time of 42.23 seconds and in the 100 free with a 1:39.59, competing in the 9-10 Division.
“Regan’s one of the young ones,” Williams said. “She’s right up there with Maggie and is giving her all at meets.”
The other standout performer for EAC was Emporia High graduate Marten Peterson.
The 19-year-old won his division in five events: the 100 free, 200 free, 50 free, 100 back and 100 breast.
“It was the first time I’ve swam in a 50-meter pool,” Peterson said, “so I can’t complain about firsts.”
The swimmer, who competed collegiately last year at South Dakota State, has used the summer club as a way of training for the upcoming season.
“I’ve been training and lifting,” Peterson said. “Hopefully, I’ll get back and break a record or two.”
Emporia High graduate Megan Durbin also picked up a win in the Open 100 free, posting a time of 1:05.01 to win the event as a member of the Lawrence Aquahawks.
Durbin swims collegiately at the University of Kansas.