Extra Effort: Increased training helps Mars' swimmer Smith land spot at Div. I Niagara University
The wail of the alarm clock came way too early for Megan Smith.
But the Mars High School swimmer groaned and rolled out of bed anyway. It was 4:30 a.m. — hours before sunrise — but Smith knew if she wanted to achieve her goals, the early wake-up call was necessary.
So were the extra hours in the water three days a week and on Saturday, working on her strokes and logging yardage.
“I just kept seeing everyone go to WPIAL and make states,” Smith said. “I knew if I wanted to make it, I needed to put in more time.”
It worked. Those extra sessions helped Smith turn an excellent freshman campaign into a phenomenal sophomore season.
She finished sixth in the WPIAL in the 200-yard individual medley and advanced to the PIAA Swimming Championships in 2019.
Smith narrowly missed making it back to the state meet as a junior this spring, but still took home two WPIAL medals to add to her trophy case.
Now, Smith is looking to take another big leap forward again.
“She is extremely driven,” said Mars boys and girls swimming coach Todd Slobodnyak. “She's probably one of the more dedicated swimmers I've ever had the opportunity to coach. She's really driven when it comes to getting better results.”
This time around, Smith is tackling training outside of the pool.Cross fit, lifting weights, yoga — anything to give her an edge.Smith said she had never done anything like that before and is excited to see the results.Niagara University in upstate New York is also curious to see how much Smith can improve.Smith committed to attend the university last week.“I was talking to a couple of other schools, but the coach at Niagara (Eric Bugby) was the one who was in most contact with me,” Smith said. “He really seemed to want me there, and I had a visit with some of the girls on the team. They told me what an amazing coach he was.”Smith, who was also pondering the University of Vermont and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, became sold on Niagara.Smith said she had always wanted to swim in college and didn't think she could at the Division I level until recently.“When I started dropping a lot of time, Division I seemed more reasonable,” Smith said. “This year when I talked to my coaches, they told me to definitely look at Division I. It just worked out like that.”Now with the weighty college decision off her shoulders and mind, Smith hopes things work out the way she hopes this winter during her senior season.Smith's strongest event is the 200-IM. She struggled, though, in that race at the WPIAL meet last season, finishing nearly two seconds slower than her time the year before.But she bounced back the next day in the 100-yard breaststroke to place seventh with a time equal to her best as a sophomore.“She came back and had a really good 100 breast,” Slobodnyak said. “She even rebounded within the WPIAL meet, which was really good to see. She's using that as fuel for the fire this year.”Smith said she has competed in nearly every event there is between Mars High School and her swim club, Pine-Richland Aquatics.She splits practice time between the two teams — heading to the Pine-Richland pool in the wee hours of the morning for yardage before focusing on technique at Mars.“It's been a good balance,” Smith said.And a tiring one sometimes.“By the end of the week, when you jump in even for a warmup, you feel like you're not moving anywhere,” Smith said. “But you keep going.”That's been Smith's mantra throughout her swimming career.Keep going. Keep improving.“Dropping times at meets pushes me to drop even more time,” Smith said. “It keeps me coming back. I just want to see how much time I can drop.”
