Standing up on the starting blocks with everyone looking, she knows she has to come in first for her team. Sophomore Ashlyn Hernandez dives into the pool and starts sprinting the 100 yard breaststroke as fast as she can, and she beats her opponents by meters.
At the meet on April 1, Hernandez clocked a 1:05.80 sprint.
Hernandez has been swimming for almost as long as she can remember, since she was around eight years old.
“My favorite race is the 100 yard breaststoke. I ended up getting the school records for it my freshman year, and my best time for that race is a 1:03.00,”Hernandez said .
“Ashlyn is such an impressive swimmer. It is so fun watching her come in first by a mile. I also love being her teammate. She brings such positive energy to the team,” senior Nateal Jackson said.
Watching Hernandez swim is impressive. She takes the sport seriously. Instead of practicing with just her high school team, she also works out with Pacific Swim.
“I also practice with club because I want to keep getting faster and faster,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez is an extremely impressive swimmer, swimming six days a week. She also runs the Poway swim and dive social media account and occasionally hosts pasta parties.
Hernandez still has two years left on the team, time to continue to do more amazing things such as getting her olympic trial time cuts.
“It is awesome that she is only a sophomore, this is my last year on the team, so it is great that after all of us seniors leave, the team will still be in great shape with all the amazing underclassmen we have,” Captain Kayne Collins said.