Swimming
Favorite athlete: Missy Franklin
Favorite team: Flyers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Training for and competing in the 200 Medley Relay at States this past year with Ricki Lee Hodges, Emily Hodges and Jenny Rogers. We spent a lot of time together and got really close and had tons of fun and swam an awesome race.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Probably false starting in a race this year in club swimming and stopping in the middle of the pool, not realizing they changed the rules and don’t call you back so then I had to keep swimming.
Music on your i-pod: A lot of Country music but also a mix of everything else
Future plans: Committed to swim at Millersville University in the Fall of 2016 majoring in Art Ed.
Words to live by: “Don’t worry about the hard times, because some of the most beautiful things we have in life come from changes or mistakes.”
One goal before turning 30: Graduate college with an Education Degree
One thing people don’t know about me: Some people know this about me but not a lot but I really love art.
By Mary Jane Souder
Ariana Crossgrove knows what it’s like to watch her team from the pool deck.
And the Souderton senior doesn’t enjoy the view even a little. As a promising freshman, Crossgrove was involved in a collision during a preseason practice. She suffered a concussion and was sidelined the entire season.
“On the outside, I fought through it and I tried to be positive, but there were nights when I would just be in tears,” Crossgrove said. “It was the most frustrating experience.
“Even thinking back on it now – it’s still frustrating because I feel if I had swam my freshman year I could have been even better this year, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
Except raise the bar higher for herself, which is exactly what Crossgrove has done.
Last season, she set a goal of swimming the 100 backstroke in under a minute. At the District One AAA meet, Crossgrove touched the wall in 1:00.03 - three-hundredths of a second from her goal.
“It’s that point where it’s almost more frustrating than being four seconds off,” she said. “I tell myself I would have rather been four seconds off, but in reality, I’m glad I was that close.”
Coach Caitlin Warren understood the emotions Crossgrove was feeling.
“She was very, very upset about it,” the Indians’ coach said. “I don’t blame her. You work all season for the one goal, and what’s so cool about Ariana is right after that she swam the 100 free and the free relay, and she stood up on that podium and gave it her best shot.”
It would have been easy for Crossgrove to come back for her final high school season with the singular goal of swimming the 100 back in under a minute. She has much higher goals.
“My first goal is to break a minute at the beginning of the season,” she said. “I’d love to go a 57, but three seconds is a big drop when you’re going a fast time like that already. I have other big drops on my other times I also want to get.”
Although missing her freshman season was frustrating, it reinforced just how much swimming meant to Crossgrove.
“Having to sit out basically my whole freshman year made me realize how much I really loved swimming and how much a part of my life it had become,” she said. “It has also helped me realize how much I couldn’t live without it.”
The experience is also serving her well this season when a teammate is going through a similar situation.
“It has helped me help her figure out what is best for her and just being there for her to talk to,” Crossgrove said.
The Souderton senior has committed to continue her swimming career at Millersville University, and interestingly, swimming was not part of the equation when she chose the Lancaster County school from a final list that also included Bloomsburg and West Chester.
“I always thought I wanted to go to Liberty, but I decided I didn’t want to swim D-1 because it’s a huge commitment,” Crossgrove said. “My best friend used to swim, and she had a couple of back surgeries and can’t swim anymore.
“I decided I wanted to go to a school I fell in love with because of the school and not because of the swim team or the pool. I went to Millersville, and I fell in love with the school before I even met the coach or before I went to the pool or met the girls.”
Although the backstroke is Crossgrove’s top event, she is versatile in the pool.
“She’ll do the 50 free and 100 free, and she will do whatever event she’s asked – no ifs, ands or buts, no complaining,” Warren said. “She absolutely loves swimming.”
*****
Crossgrove has been swimming competitively since she was six years old. She tried softball, gymnastics and dance, but swimming was her passion.
“My parents joke that I’m like a fish,” she said. “I just like being in the water.”
She began swimming year round in sixth grade and was expected to contribute immediately as a freshman, but things changed in a hurry when - during a November practice - she had a head-on collision with two other swimmers.
“I’m a back stroker, so I’ve hit the wall before – it’s normal,” Crossgrove said. “We were sprinting, so we were going fast enough – the one hit me, and I ended colliding with another one.”
The second swimmer sustained a concussion and was out for two weeks. Crossgrove wasn’t nearly as fortunate, although she had no idea of the severity at the time the accident occurred.
“I finished practice, and I felt fine, so I went to lifting,” she said. “I went to practice the next morning too.
“It wasn’t until after that I started getting bad headaches, and I said ‘Something’s not right.’ I ended up leaving school that day and went to the doctor’s, and I had a concussion. At that point, they said, ‘You’re out of school and out of swimming for now.’”
Crossgrove was out of school for a full week and then went for half of the day for two weeks.
“I was still getting headaches,” she said. “(At first,) I couldn’t even be in the pool area because of the lighting and the heat, and the noise made it worse.
“If you had asked me, I would have thought I was going back (to swimming that season).”
It didn’t happen, but Crossgrove remained with the team – although it wasn’t always easy.
“Seeing them all get better and going to districts and states and knowing I was their speed so I could have been there – it was rough,” she said.
Crossgrove made an immediate impression on her coach as a freshman even though she wasn’t in the pool.
“I’ve worked with plenty of kids who’ve had concussions on the team and in the classroom, but Ariana made an effort to come to every single practice even when she had her concussion,” Warren said. “That says a lot about her love for the sport and her love for the team”
By late spring, Crossgrove was back in the pool, and as a sophomore, she was part of Souderton’s medley relay that advanced to states. She went back at states with the medley relay as a junior and also competed in the 100 back and 50 free in districts.
She returns for her final high school season with her sights set high.
“What I’m most impressed about is this year Ariana wants to start out the season swimming a minute and wants to go 57 at the end,” Warren said. “Even though that upset her and she didn’t achieve her goals (last season), she came back and said, ‘You know what – I can swim faster than that,’ and I think that sets her apart from other athletes.
“Most would say, “I’m going to go for the same goal and hopefully I’ll get it,’ but she said, ‘I’m going to set the bar higher.’”
In preparation for her final season, Crossgrove was the manager of the water polo team this fall.
“It was my coaches’ idea so I could still train and be a part of the team even though I didn’t want to play,” she said, crediting Warren and Rob Faccenda for the idea. “I really enjoyed it and loved being with the team. I feel stronger in the water than I have in years past.”
Outside of the pool, Crossgrove is active with her church and volunteers in the community. An excellent student, she recently received the Tech Ed. Student of the Month Award. With enough credits to graduate, Crossgrove, who took several AP classes last year, is using this year to focus on another of her passions – art.
“I’m taking a lot of art courses to build my portfolio,” she said. “I already submitted my portfolio and was accepted (at Millersville), but this way I have more work and more practice and more learning going into school.”
With her sights set on a possible career in art therapy, she plans to major in art education and minor in psychology.
“Last year, I was taking a human behavior course, and I loved it,” she said. “I love working with kids. Art therapy is for any age, but my passion is with kids.”
For now, Crossgrove is focusing in on her final high school swimming season.
“I think I’m kind of in denial that it’s my senior season,” she said. “When I think about it, it’s a lot of responsibility. I just have to have fun with it and enjoy myself.”
