Sarah-Catherine Dawson '22 Recruiting Profile

As an aspiring collegiate athlete, I am open to competing at the Division 1, 2, 3, or NAIA level. I am looking for a school that will challenge me academically and also give me the opportunity to be competitive in the pool. I hope that wherever I find a swim home, I can be a contributing member of the team. 

I started swimming competitively when I was ten-years-old, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted to compete at the highest level I could. I grew up participating in many sports in addition to swimming, from cross country and basketball in middle school, to varsity golf as a freshman. But swimming has been what I love the most. It has taught me so many valuable lessons, such as how to manage my time, how to push myself, and how you have to put in the work to get the pay off. Swimming has shown me the value of being part of a team and the motivation of healthy competition. Being a swimmer has also made me a better student. 

I often hear from friends, family, and even teachers, “I don't know how you do it`.” They don’t understand the early morning practices, the hours in the pool, or the doubles that drive a swimmer to keep chasing that next PR. When I’m not in the pool, I’m thinking about the next time I will be. It’s such an orchestration of technique and timing, coupled with strength and endurance, and I know I have so much more in me to continue to work towards that perfect swim. 

It’s my hope to go to a school where I can be part of a swim family and have a coach that will help me to take my swimming to the next level. I am open to going somewhere out-of-state because even though I will be far from my family and friends at home, I hope to be able to grow as my own independent person. 

If you ask my coaches and family how they would describe me, I hope they would say that I work hard, I welcome challenges, and I always try to have a positive attitude and be a positive, contributing member of any team or group I am part of. You might find me either on the sidelines with a focused pre-swim face, visualizing each step of my next swim, or just as likely screaming my head off cheering for my teammates. I love the sport of swimming and all its many parts--both individual and team.