Megan Lafferty went with her ‘gut feeling’ when it came time to choose a college.
In the end, the Upper Dublin senior – who was torn between Penn State and Maryland - opted to become a Terrapin.
The gifted swimmer is certain she made the right choice.
“Basically, I made a list of about 100 pros and cons, and I still couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do,” Lafferty said. “So I went with my gut feeling.
“Now that I look back, I really think I did make the right decision. Penn State is an amazing school, of course, but I think I am going to be really happy at Maryland.”
On Monday morning, Lafferty signed her name on a letter of intent to accept a swimming scholarship to Maryland while her parents Penny and Greg Lafferty as well as Upper Dublin coach Brian Palme, Central Bucks Swim Team coach Stu Kukla and Upper Dublin interim athletic director Eric Greiner looked on.
“It’s an instance where all the hard work that Meg put in over the last several years is paying off,” Palme said. “She’s taking that next step toward fulfilling her dreams, so it’s a day we can all be proud of.”
The recruiting process began in earnest in Lafferty’s junior year, and this past summer, she made an unofficial visit to Maryland. Her official visit this fall confirmed that the College Park campus was the right choice.
“I loved everything about it,” she said. “In the end, I had a gut feeling that was the school I should be at, and I’m really happy about it.”
Lafferty has made a name for herself in the butterfly and freestyle although she can swim all four strokes and is a backstroker of considerable talent as well.
What sets Lafferty apart?
“She’s very talented,” Palme said. “Her work ethic, her confidence, her support system, and she’s a very dynamic kid. She’s learned to take the good with the bad, adapt and push herself – all the qualities an athlete of her caliber has.”
Lafferty began swimming competitively when she was seven years old with the Sunny Willow swim team. There was nothing about her debut to suggest she would one day be a star.
“I could swim the freestyle and backstroke fine, but they asked me to swim the breaststroke,” she recalled. “I started crying because I didn’t know how to swim it.
“They moved me to the lane where no one really knows how to swim and they teach you. I was not the best swimmer.”
That changed in a hurry.
Later that year, she joined the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club, and the foundation was laid for a stellar career in the pool
At the beginning of Lafferty’s sophomore year, she began swimming for the U.S. program with Kukla’s Central Bucks Swim Team.
“She definitely has a desire to win, which is something you can’t teach and coach,” said Kukla, who has known Lafferty since her early years in the pool. “She also has tremendous physical talents and really a great feel for the water, which is another thing you can’t teach.
“Beyond that, she has a work ethic, which is something in the sport of swimming you really have to push. It’s not something where every single day you have results.
“It’s a sport where you’re shooting for a goal six, seven months down the line or further. You go through frustrations, but she does a very good job of focusing herself and not allowing herself to forget about that long-term goal.”
Lafferty wasted little time before making an impact at the high school level.
As a sophomore, she qualified for districts in the 50 and 100 freestyle, finishing fifth and second respectively. At states, she finished in the top 15 in both. She also was part of the 200 and 400 free relay teams that competed in districts with the 400 earning a spot in states.
That was just the beginning.
One year later, Lafferty won district gold in the 100 butterfly and finished fourth in the 100 free. She finished third in states in the butterfly and 10th in the 100 free. She also was part of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams that finished second and fourth respectively in districts. The 200 relay team won a seventh place medal in states.
It was around that time that Lafferty began thinking seriously of competing at the next level.
“I always really enjoyed swimming, but I never saw myself swimming at the college level,” she said. “That’s when I decided it was something I could keep doing.”
Lafferty has worked tirelessly at her sport. During her high school season, she swims 7,000 yards a day and 9,000 or 10,000 in the off-season.
She reaped the dividends for that hard work when she signed her name to compete in a sport she loves at Maryland.
“Oh my gosh, it felt amazing,” she said. “I was stressing out completely about where I wanted to go to school, if I was going to make the right decision, and when I finally told Maryland I was going to go there, it was like a thousand pounds came off my chest.
“I think it was a really good decision, and I’m really excited for next year.”
Lafferty is leaning towards a business or marketing major.
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