(HCN recently did a podcast with AHS Swim Coach Audrey Haley, who talked about Allison Hardin. You can listen to it here.)
By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist
Allison Hardin swims more hours a week — 30 — than most people work for a part-time job. The 16-year-old Athens High School junior rises at 4:50 a.m. for her private swimming lessons three mornings a week. She swims before school, heads to the pool as soon as classes are over, and is back at the pool on Saturdays. Check this info at the official site.
“It’s swim, school, swim, swim, school, swim,” said Hardin with a wry grin. Yes, it’s hard, she admitted, but “my goal was to make it to state, and I succeeded.”
At about 4:30 p.m. this Friday, Hardin will be at the University of Texas at Austin, in the Joe Jamail Swim Center, racing against the best high school 100-meter freestylers in the state. What she hopes for, has worked and sacrificed for, is to swim faster than she ever has. That was exactly what happened at regionals, when Hardin not only qualified for state against students from bigger schools with more established swim programs, but she did it with a personal best time.
Hardin competed in both the 50- and 100-meter freestyle at regionals. She knew going in to the 100-meter race that it was her strongest event, and the level of competition was going to be tremendous. The year before, she had placed second. Only the winner qualifies for state, and as she crouched on the starting block waiting for the buzzer to sound, she focused all her intensity on being that person.
A 100-meter race is four laps in an Olympic regulation-sized pool. Hardin, who swam in lane 4, seemed to be matched stroke for stroke by the competitor on her left. “She was right beside me,” said Hardin. “I could see her the whole time. … I out touched her.” That is to say, Hardin touched the wall at the end of the last lap a fraction of a second faster.
When she looked up at the scoreboard, she wasn’t immediately able to determine whether she had won or not. “I was trying to process it, and when I did I was so happy. It had finally all paid off. I looked up at my parents; they were screaming.” Her winning time of 55.24 was nine one-hundredths of a second faster than the number-two time.
“Alli has taken her training above and beyond, and it has paid off,” said AHS Swim Coach Audrey Haley. “She has an amazing drive and passion for swim that all coaches hope to see.”
In her seemingly non-existent free time, Hardin competes in sprint-distance triathlons, which consist of a 300 to 500-meter swim (“For most people, that’s their worst part, and I can really get ahead then”), a 12 to 14-mile bike ride and a 5K (3.1-mile) run.
Apart from swimming on the AHS team, she has been a longtime swim league member and credits her coaches over the years for helping her, including Hank Skelton, Willy Robson, Caroline Maxfield, Dwayne Davis, Clay Brock and Haley.
“They’ve all helped me to reach this moment,” she said. “Sometimes they were hard on me, but obviously it’s paid off.”