Izzy Iwasik of Unionville has been named the 2024 Daily Local News Girls Swimmer of the Year. (Pete Bannan – Daily Local News)
2024 Daily Local News Female Swimmer of the Year, Unionville High School senior Izzy Iwasik has an impressive resume featuring many highlights, including 10 PIAA 3A state championship medals .
The path to these medals wasn't all peaches and cream. During his junior year at Unionville College, Iwasik suffered a back injury in a car accident at the beginning of swimming season, but recovered later that winter and won two state medals. .
“That back injury affected her entire junior year,” Unionville swim coach Mike Mangan said. “Even at the end of that season, her times weren't what she wanted, but Izzy was back to her old form, turning the page on her junior year and preparing for this winter's district meet. I was able to make a real impression at the state tournament.”
At the 2024 PIAA District 1/3A Championships, Iwasik placed first in the 100-yard freestyle (50.65) and 50-yard free (23.14). Three weeks later at the PIAA 3A State Championships she won two medals and finished her high school swimming career with a new school record in the 100 free and second place with her PR of 49.59. Her second place finish was her highest placing at the American Games.
“Izzy has the ability to control her attention and remain resilient even when things don't go her way,” Mangan said. “What I admire most about her is her ability to deal with the constant background pressure of her expectations and the glare of her attention, whether from her school or the outside world.
“Izzy has a great ability to turn the page on what seemed like a bad swim or a bad match or an injury season and look to the next match with optimism. That's a truly admirable quality. Anyone can have a good attitude when things are going well, but what sets Izzy apart is her ability to move on from setbacks, refocus, and not let setbacks affect what's going on in the moment. And for me, this is the key to understanding her success.”
At the state meet, Iwasik placed fourth in the 50 free with a time of 23.10 seconds, bettering her gold-medal winning time of 23.14 seconds at the district meet. In her last high school swim, the 100 free on March 14th, Iwasik finished second in the race, where she was one of three swimmers to break 50 seconds.
“I think the 100 free was my best performance of the season,” Iwasik said. “My favorite memory from America this year was celebrating with the (two) competitors who also broke 50 seconds. The key to my success that day was just my mindset. It was my last swim in high school, so I wanted to do it well.”
Iwasik has seven individual medals at the PIAA 3A state championships, including both the 50 free and 100 free as a sophomore, junior and senior. However, Iwasik said her favorite memory from her high school swimming career was practicing with three other swimmers and winning the District 1 3A title in the 200-meter medley relay as a freshman. That's what he said. That quartet (seniors Molly Carson, Emma Shields, Madeline Rowe and Iwasic) went on to take third place at the state tournament, earning Izzy the first PIAA 3A state medal of her high school career.
Mangan praises the leadership Iwasik brings to the developing Unionville girls swimming program.
“Izzy has been instrumental in bringing attention to our program,” Mangan said. “Her focus and determination in swimming set an example for other swimmers to emulate. She is a great teammate, but what really sets her apart is her ability to create swimmers that swimmers want to emulate. She's the type of person that other swimmers look at and say, 'Wow.'
Earlier this year, Iwasik spoke about the recent growth of the Unionville girls swimming program on Senior Night. It's really great to have a sold-out Senior Night with so many people in the stands cheering us on. ”
One of the highlights of the Longhorns' Senior Night last February was the tribute to the late Emma Hill, a 2024 Unionville graduate. Emma Hill was Izzy's best friend, and after a brief meeting, she passed away on February 19, 2022. serious illness.
“Emma and I have been best friends since second grade, and swimming with her really brought us together,” Iwasik said. “Emma always improved her practices and school and put a smile on my face. We had a great time together during our freshman season and made many great memories.”
Iwasik's interest in competitive swimming began at a young age, when her mother signed her to the Hockessin (Delaware) Athletic Club's summer league team in the Suburban Swimming League.
“That's when I realized I had talent and my mom signed me up for winter swimming at the Western YMCA. After a year at Western, I moved to the Kennett YMCA, where I formed a great team. I found it and am now able to swim really well. I've always loved sprint competitions the most, but I love swimming IM and 100 strokes.”
Iwasik trains and competes at Diamond State Aquatics in Wilmington, Del., and credits all of her swimming growth to her coaches, including Diamond State Aquatics' program director. He also mentioned that his longest-serving coach was Zach Nerwinski.
“Zac made me into the swimmer I am today,” Iwasik said.
Iwasik, who has earned All-American and All-Schola honors all four years of his high school career, said his favorite swimming experience (so far) was qualifying for the long course 50 free at the Speed Junior Nationals. He said it was time. She clocked 26.50 seconds at the 2022 LC Futures Championship (Geneva, Ohio).
“I remember celebrating with my team after the match and just being shocked at how well I swam,” Iwasik said.
Iwasik, a member of the National Honor Society, is enjoying math courses at Unionville, plans to major in finance at Auburn University and is determined to swim for the Tigers. Her main events at Auburn will be the 50 free and 100 free, and she will likely also swim the 200 IM for the Tigers.
“We are grateful for everything Izzy has done for our team over the past four years, but in a special way we are grateful for the sheer swimming talent and ability, hard work, determination, and talent that she brings to the table,” Mangan said. And I'm grateful for their leadership in achieving that.”
