Despite Challenges, Holly DiSimone is the school’s most powerful swimmer – with big aspirations for her future
Tensions are high at the 2022 Central Section CIF Finals for the Women’s 50 yard Freestyle. With the command of the loudspeaker, “Swimmers, take your mark,” Senior Holly DiSimone climbs up onto the diving block and grapples onto the edge, preparing herself for the send off. To the sound of a buzzer, DiSimone explodes off the block with great force, plunging herself into the water. Her synchronized, strong underwater kicks allow her to glide effortlessly ahead of her competition. She breaches the surface, propelling one arm forward and dragging the water behind her, building momentum and intensifying her stroke rate. She drives herself forward with an explosive flutter kick approaching the wall where she then flips into a front somersault and darts back to the direction where she started. The race is close as each swimmer thrashes full speed through the water at arm’s distance. She exerts all of her remaining energy and force into the last 25 yards to get a lead. Regardless of her inevitable fatigue, her persistence to win pushes her to keep swimming full speed. In a blink of an eye, she smashes into the touchpad while the crowd cheers. DiSimone then looks up to the scoreboard to see the results, finishing with a time of 24.40; a new school record has been added to her belt.
Setting records and leaving her mark, DiSimone showcased her swim excellence throughout her high school career by leading as a team co-captain and shattering the school’s 50 yard Freestyle record time, the 100 yard Butterfly event twice, and the 200 yard Medley Relay.
Setting records and leaving her mark, DiSimone showcased her swim excellence throughout her high school career by leading as a team co-captain and shattering the school’s 50 yard Freestyle record time, the 100 yard Butterfly event twice, and the 200 yard Medley Relay.
Swimming competitively since she was 10 years old, this star athlete has completed over 100 morning swim practices at 6:30 a.m. before school. She continues to spend up to 11.5 hours a week swimming, lifting, and competing in the afternoon with her team.
DiSimone’s determined, caring, and loyal attitude towards the sport has driven her to accomplish feats the typical high school swimmer could ever dream of. During her freshman year, she was projected to break the 100 yd Butterfly record, which was set 31 years ago by Poppy Gilman with a time of 58.75. DiSimone ended up crushing the record by a split second with a new time of 58.74—as a freshman.
“I would definitely say that my coaches, parents, and teammates have made up for the most part of my success, rather than the training itself. I know from experience that swimming takes a lot of mental training, so just having that support from them is really what drove me to achieve all these accomplishments and I couldn’t have done it without them”
Despite these difficult events she was able to continue pursuing her passion for swimming whilst taking care of her mother at home. She was able to end her highschool swim career with a new record that was held previously for 26 years by Kambra Wesch in the 50 Yard Freestyle where DiSimone finished with a record time of 24.40 at the 2022 CIF Division 1 Meet.
“Holly has impacted the team by being an inspirational leader for many of the younger swimmers. She is happy to be an advocate for those that may not always speak for themselves. She is also a motivator because of her impressive athletic ability,” said Mike Sauret, Head Coach of the PRHS women’s swim team. “One of the things that makes Her stand out compared to other swimmers is her selflessness. Holly is always concerned with the needs of others, and always wanted to make the swim team a fun place. Also her incredible ability to make a butterfly look easy certainly is something that stands out about Holly.”
Currently she looks forward to swim collegiately at Cal State Bakersfield, where she will be pursuing Liberal Studies in hopes to become an elementary school teacher someday.
“Holly is the most dedicated and strongest person I have ever met. She’s constantly inspiring our teammates to be the best versions of ourselves in and out of the water, and I don’t know what I’d do without her as a teammate and as a friend,” said senior Ava Hughes, co-captain of the women’s swim team.
