SPRINGDALE — Some of Mariah Lucas’ friends tried to talk her into remaining on her club swim team, but she was ready to have a life outside of the pool.
As much as she loves swimming, Lucas wanted to try her hand at throwing the discus and perhaps competing in the pole vault for Springdale High’s track and field team.
“But I’m not very good with coordination, so I don’t know how well that’s going to go,” Lucas joked.
Profile
Mariah Lucas
SCHOOL: Springdale High
CLASS: Sophomore
Height: 5-6
Notable: Qualified in the 100-yard backstroke and 200 freestyle for the Arkansas High School Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held Feb. 22-23 at Arkansas-Little Rock. ... Finished sixth at last year’s state meet in the 500-yard freestyle. ... Plans to compete in the discus throw for Springdale’s track and field team.
The 5-foot-6 sophomore realized she wasn’t going to swim in college, so why not become a multi-sport athlete and enjoy the next few years instead of spending three hours a day practicing in the pool?
“I just wanted to focus on school and have a social life, which I never had before,” said Lucas, who began swimming competitively at age 11 after her family moved to Northwest Arkansas from Ohio.
However, the perfect technique that Lucas learned while swimming for the AquaHawgs still comes in handy. She has emerged as one of Springdale’s top swimmers while transitioning from long distances to shorter races since leaving her club team in September.
Lucas has qualified in the 100-yard backstroke and 200 freestyle for the Arkansas High School Swimming and Diving Championships, and she’s only a few tenths-of-a-second shy of reaching the qualifying mark in the 100 freestyle.
But first the sophomore will try to help Springdale earn a top finish at Wednesday’s 7A/6A-West Conference meet on Arkansas’ campus.
“She’s all-around phenomenal,” Springdale coach Matt Hervey said. “I mean, yeah, she may not do the super times that she used to do. But if you look at her body work, she’s still, in my opinion, one of the top 10 sophomores in the state.”
Lucas took sixth place in the 500-yard freestyle at last year’s state meet, and she’ll be in contention to earn a pair of top 5 finishes if she competes in the 200 and 500 freestyles at today’s conference meet.
Still, Lucas admitted that it has been frustrating to see her times go up by a few seconds now that she’s not working with a club team. She was accustomed to having three-hour practices with the AquaHawgs instead of the 45-minute practices she now has with Springdale, and she has had to accept that her performances might change as a result.
“I just kind of had to realize my times aren’t going to be as good as they once were,” Lucas said. “But I’ve been practicing as much as I can, as much time as we’re allowed to swim.”
Hervey said he has spoken with the sophomore about coming to terms with her new times, which he refers to as “Post-Hawgs times” since they have come since she stopped swimming for the club team.
“We just have a whole Post-Hawgs times set. Understand that those times may not be there,” Hervey said. “I told her the other day, ‘But the good news is you’re going to get to play other sports,’
“And that’s what I think she wants to do.”