Seneca Valley’s Katie Bookwalter once hated the pool. Now she’s racing in junior national meets
CRANBERRY TWP — The pool and Katie Bookwalter did not mix at first.
“When my parents first took me for swimming lessons, I hated the water,” the Seneca Valley senior said. “I would just cry. I didn’t want any part of it.”
She was 6 years old then. By the age of 7, Bookwalter was involved in YMCA competitive swimming. Now she’s placing at national events.
“She got to the point where she knew how to swim, so we were going to let her out of the lessons,” Diane Bookwalter, Katie’s mother, said. “We knew how much she hated going.
“But she got to know some friends involved in Y swimming and wanted to give that a try. Everything just took off from there.”
This summer, Bookwalter qualified for the 2026 Speedo Junior National Championships in Irvine, Calif. She placed sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke, eighth in the 100 breast and was 21st in the 50 breast at the event held Aug. 5-7.
Her times of 2 minutes, 33.31 seconds in the 200 and 1:11.03 in the 100 qualified Bookwalter for next year’s USA National Championships in Indianapolis.
“I plan on being there,” she said. “I don’t have any particular goals for that meet. I just want to see how I stack up and how well I can do against top swimmers of all ages across the country.”
Approximately 2% of all youth swimmers qualify for the USA Junior Championships, Diane Bookwalter said.
Bookwalter will also compete in the U.S. Open meet in December, the next major test on her calendar.
“There really is no offseason,” she said of club swimming. “There’s a couple of weeks (off) in August, and my family just went on a 10-day vacation.”
Bookwalter swam for the Raiders high school team her freshman and sophomore years. Last year, she decided to devote her pool time to Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics, a club program that has daily practices at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool.
“I wanted more of a challenge in terms of training and competition,” Bookwalter said. “In high school, you’re gearing up for dual-meets most of the time. In club, I’m training for major meets and competitions. It’s more of an elite level, and I had to push myself to reach that level.”
Her younger sister, SV freshman Ally Bookwalter, is also in Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics. They practice seven days a week, sometimes doing double practices, and during the school year practices run from 5-7 p.m. They also do dry land workouts three times a week.
“It’s a lot of driving, kinda hectic, but it’s worth it,” Katie said.
Bookwalter’s academic studies are not paying the price. She takes advanced placement classes and had a 5.05 weight grade point average at the end of her junior year, ranking near the top of her class.
“A lot of that is the discipline that comes from swimming,” Katie’s mother said. “Katie is an extremely motivated person, and the club is very supportive of her.
“She is using swimming to help set up her life.”
Though she hasn’t committed to a school yet, Bookwalter is leaning toward the Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design. New York University, Pitt and Penn State are among other schools looking at her.
“I have tremendous interest in art and I want to pursue that,” Bookwalter said. “I’m definitely going to swim in college. My goal is to get to the (U.S.) Olympic Trials and earn a spot on the (Olympic) team. I have a long way to go yet.”
Now Katie and the pool are inseparable.
“I can’t imagine my life without swimming,” Bookwalter said.
