Water Polo, Swimming
Favorite athlete: Michael Phelps
Favorite team: USA Olympic Men’s and Women’s Swim Teams
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning districts in the 200 freestyle my junior year because it was such a surprise. I had no idea that it was even possible. I just tried to swim my own race and stay as calm as possible. The whole district meet my junior year was definitely unforgettable.”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During practice one day my sophomore year, we were doing a kick set, and our diving coach Bill called me over near the diving boards. He tricked me and turned on the pool jets that spray water on the surface and ended up shooting me straight in the face (so hard I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out of my head). The worst part was the whole thing was recorded, and everyone watched it over and over again (even in slow motion).
Music on iPod: I listen to pretty much anything that sounds good, but right now I really enjoy the electronic genre.
Future plans: I will be attending Bucknell University in the fall, majoring in mathematics and also swimming, of course!
Words to live by: ‘Some succeed because they are destined. Others succeed because they are determined.’
One goal before turning 30: I really want to travel to Australia. I’ve always thought that it would be such a fun and exciting place to visit.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love teaching swimming lessons on Friday nights. I absolutely adore the little kids, and I love teaching them how to swim. I wouldn’t want to spend my Friday nights any other way.
Laureana Zrada is a swimmer through and through.
The Souderton senior has been swimming most of her life.
“I started out doing community swimming when I was five or six years old,” she said. “I was in a group called the minis and that’s where it started.”
She was following in the footsteps of older brother Matt.
“He was a swimmer and I really looked up to him a lot,” she said. “Seeing him go all the way through to the high school swim team made me want to do it too, so I guess it’s in my blood.”
Matt, a 2006 Souderton alum, went on to swim at Rhode Island for two years before the Rams dropped the program.
“We get along really well,” she said. “He just finished pharmacy school and he’s back home working on what he wants to do with his degree.
“I was really excited to have him back because I thought he’d be able to come to some of my meets and he’s been to a lot of them this year. It was so nice having him there.”
“I remember going to the state championships and watching him swim. At first they were at Penn State but then while he was in high school they moved to Bucknell.”
Bucknell continues to host the PIAA championships, which made an impression on Zrada.
“That’s where I’m going to college,” she said. “It was my first choice.
“It’s everything that I like. It’s not too big, but the campus still looks like a big college campus. It’s really pretty, and Lewisburg is such a nice town. It reminds me of home.”
The university’s state-of-the-art Kinney Natatorium was a big part of the school’s allure.
“I love swimming there,” she said. “It’s a beautiful facility.”
She also considered Penn State, Villanova and West Chester and is eying a major in mathematics.
“I’m considering a double major in mathematics and education so that I could teach and coach a swim team,” said Zrada, who is a member of the National Honor Society. “I’d love to coach someday and I want to give back to the sport.
“I looked up to (former coach) Todd Bauer and (current coach) Caitlin Warren and I’d love to be a teacher and coach like they are.”
Warren is in her first year as the head coach of Souderton’s boys and girls swim teams after serving as an assistant under Bauer, who left to become the 10th grade house principal at Central Bucks South.
“She was very familiar with the program, but as with any new coach there are a few little transitions,” Zrada said of Warren. “She’s awesome and she reminds me a lot of the way Todd used to coach so it hasn’t been too different.”
Warren has appreciated having Zrada as a team captain.
“She and (co-captain) Alyssa Santangelo have been a major help,” Warren said. “I get so much positive feedback from parents on both of them.
“Laureana is very good at dealing with adversity. She knows what to do in each situation. There’s a time to speak up and be vocal and there’s a time to be quiet and she does both depending on the situation, so she’s very good at reading a situation and knowing how to act.
“That’s a skill a lot of kids need going into college and beyond and she has it already. She’s very prepared for college and life after college as well.
“Her attitude and personality have come a long way. She was very different her freshman year, more focused on what she needed to do versus what the team needed. Now she’s 100% team, concerned with what she can do to help the team.”
Zrada recently competed at the SOL Continental Conference championships, taking second in the 500-yard freestyle and third in the 200 freestyle.
“We’re in a very strong league and that’s great preparation for districts and states,” she said. “A lot of the top people are the people we swim against every day.
“I thought a lot of our girls swam really well and the freshmen really stepped up,” she said. “I’m excited for districts to see what we can do.”
At last year’s District One Class AAA championships she was the district titlist in the 200 freestyle (1:53.31) and took second in the 500 freestyle (5:06.16).
“My goal this year at districts is to make it to states again,” she said. “I was very excited to hear that our district is getting five automatics to states this year instead of four.”
At the 2012 PIAA championships she made it to the consolation heat in the 500 freestyle, finishing 12th (5:06.15).
“Hopefully I’ll get back to states and swim faster this year,” she said. “My goal is to touch the wall and know that I couldn’t have done anything else, that I gave it my all.”
In addition to the swim team, Zrada was also a member of the girls water polo team.
“I played it when I was 10 or 12, then stopped for awhile when I was doing a lot of US swimming,” she said. “When I got to high school I started playing again.
“Pretty much everyone on the swim team plays water polo too so it’s a great way to meet the team and form relationships. My water polo career is pretty much over now but it was a lot of fun and it was a good break from swimming.”
