Junior Kayla Chapman has been swimming since she was six years old and is starting her third year on the La Salle swim team. Her love for swimming started when her dad wanted to take her fishing. “My mom said I could only go if I was able to swim,” she said. This led her to start taking swim lessons. 

Chapman races the 50 freestyle, 50 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 200 freestyle for La Salle and her club team, The Dolphins Portland Swimming. Personally, Chapman believes her best events are the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle and that she is close to breaking a couple of school records.

While the season is just starting, Chapman’s goals are “to get some individual [records] this year and just get better overall,” she said.  She specifically named the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke as two school records that she hopes to break this year. 

Chapman enjoys being a member of La Salle’s swim team because “everyone helps everyone,” she said. One of her favorite parts is the bus ride home from meets as everyone is talking to each other. She also expressed faith in new coaches Elizabeth Ferek and Kerri Mozena. “They know what they’re doing,” she said. 

Chapman gains motivation to continue to swim from all of the success she had in the past. “Each time I win or I get a medal, that kind of builds on, ‘Hey, I can do this, I’m good enough,’” she said, which contributes to the reassurance she gets to continue swimming. 

Her greatest accomplishment in swimming was being able to swim in Zones, a highly selective national meet that requires swimmers to submit times and be chosen to race. Chapman was able to attend this event when she was 12 years old and she “really enjoyed that,” she said. 

In swimming, her mentor is her club coach as “he is definitely the person who drills us at practices,” she said. “He’s also really funny [and] really kind.” 

Swim is fun for Chapman “because it gives [her] a sense of accomplishment after a really hard practice,” she said. “It’s really nice to be done with it, and then you have all your friends there and it’s just a really nice community.” 

In the future, Chapman wishes to continue to swim at the college level and is currently working with her college counselor to find the right school to attend.