EDWARDSVILLE – Olivia Ramirez is the kind of swimmer that teams can build around.
Ramirez won a pair of events in WaterWorks’ swim club’s Southwestern Illinois Swimming Association meet over Splash City of Collinsville recently; the rising sophomore at Edwardsville High School has been swimming for several years. “I first started off with the (Edwardsville YMCA) Breakers and that’s been about six years; a year later, I started with WaterWorks, so that’s about five (years),” Ramirez said. “I also swim for (Edwardsville) high school and I was a freshman – that was super-fun.
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“WaterWorks is like my favorite place to come; I love all the coaches. It’s super-fun and so much enjoyable. I love all the meets and being around everybody; I’ve made so many friends and they’re like my best friends.”
Ramirez had tried many sports before coming to swimming. “I tried so many sports and I was honestly terrible at them,” Ramirez said. “I was not good; I tried soccer, gymnastics and everything. Someone told me about swimming and I was like, ‘you may as well give it a try’. My first practice, I dove in and I loved it – it was a fun environment and I loved being in the water before that, so that’s what brought me in – I’m here today and the rest is history.”
Being a part of the Marlins is a good way for Ramirez to stay in shape for the high school season, which runs from September to November in Illinois. “It keeps me motivated and in shape; like when I go into high school swimming, I won’t be as tired,” Ramirez said. “I can train harder and stuff like that.”
Ramirez swam the 100 individual medley, 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke in the meet against the Gators as well as being part of a pair of relays. As far as goals for the summer, she keeps them simple. “My goals are probably to improve my breaststroke,” Ramirez said. “As far as high school goes, I’d like to make state in relay or anything; I think it’d be pretty cool (to go to the state meet in Evanston) to swim at state.
“It’s a big competition; I think that would be real fun against swimming against (Chicagoland swimmers).”
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