Junior Julia Grasse leads the swim team as a captain and top performer. Her eight years of experience allow her to be a very versatile and competitive swimmer. She swims the backstroke, butterfly, Individual Medley, sprint freestyle, and distance freestyle.

According to Head Coach Katelyn Eustis, the team is full of great swimmers, but “Julia stands out with her performances in the pool as well as her leadership as a team captain.”

Grasse’s strong work ethic is rooted in her desire to improve.

“I am most motivated by trying to improve my times,” Grasse said. “It’s so fun when you finally go faster than you ever have. Also, it’s motivating to share a lane with people who are faster than me and when I’m racing to have swimmers to catch.”

According to Eustis, Grasse “is very ‘coachable’ and will work hard to make stroke and technique changes with the spirit that even the smallest changes will help her swim faster.”

In fact one of Grasse’s favorite parts of swimming are “being able to see concrete improvement from meet to meet” and bonding with the team. Her desire and willingness make Grasse a major threat in the water, as well as a strong dependable leader on the team.

“Julia is an excellent relay swimmer,” Eustis said. “She will give a 100 percent effort because she knows her team is depending on her.  Sometimes she will exit the water from a previous race and step right in the line for the relay.”

According to Grasse, it takes conditioning, endurance, and a desire to improve to be a good swimmer.

“For high school swimming, it also takes versatility because everyone swims every event over the course of the season,” Grasse said. “That can range from all four strokes and events that last from under 30 seconds to seven minutes.”

Eustis recognizes versatility as a key quality that adds to Grasse’s success.

“She is always willing to step up and swim any event we need her to and do her best,” Eustis said. “It is very clear that Julia has set goals for herself and expects to attain them.”

According to Grasse her “number one goal this season is to join the one minute club, which means swimming a 100 yard freestyle in under a minute.”

Grasse offered a bit of advice to other student athletes and swimmers.

“If you really want to excel, I think it’s important to keep practicing in the off season and making sure you work hard at every practice,” Grasse said. “In a race, it’s important to keep going, no matter how much your muscles are burning, especially in swimming when the races are around a minute long.”

Thus far in the season, Grasse is happy with both her teammates and her own performance, getting many of her best times this year.