Swimming
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory: States my junior year
Funniest/most embarrassing thing that has happened while competing in sports: When my team left for a meet without me my junior year.
Music on iPod: Almost everything except for country.
Future plans: Attend James Madison University and major in communications
Favorite motto: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
One goal before turning 30: Run a marathon!
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m afraid of heights!
By Mary Jane Souder
Quinn MacMillan has had a record-breaking career in the pool at Central Bucks West.
Listen to the senior standout tell it, and it’s almost as if she became a swimmer by default.
“Honestly, I was only really good at swimming,” MacMillan said. “I wasn’t good at softball – I tried that. Soccer – not so much. I really didn’t have the hand-eye coordination. Swimming is just what stuck.”
Thank goodness it did.
Last March at the PIAA Class AAA state championships at Bucknell University, MacMillan shattered the 33-year-old school record of United States Olympian Karen LaBerge in the 200 freestyle during her preliminary heat. She topped that mark in the finals, finishing fifth and taking more than two seconds off LaBerge’s longstanding record of 1:52.63 with a time of 1:50.48.
For good measure, MacMillan also set a new school record in the 100 free with a time of 51.70 to earn a fifth place medal.
If it seems as though MacMillan would be resting on her laurels, guess again. Earlier this year, she broke those times at a club meet with her Central Bucks US Swim Team. After winning both events at the SOL Continental Conference meet, MacMillan is prepared for one final postseason run.
“I’ve worked harder this year than I did last year, so I really want to go out there and show them what I’ve got this year,” MacMillan said. “I’m putting pressure on myself. People aren’t putting pressure on me. I just want to prove myself.”
MacMillan has proven herself and then some during a stellar high school career.
“She’s a team leader,” West coach Vibeke Swanson said. “She’s an extremely hard worker.
“She’s a captain, and I always appreciate the way she rallies up the team, the way she gets everybody pumped up. She also leads by example.”
According to Swanson, MacMillan has improved each year.
“She was good as a freshman and even better as a sophomore,” the Bucks’ coach said. “That was her first year at states.
“She did fine, but of course, in her eyes, she did not. Therefore, she decided that was not going to ever happen again.”
MacMillan, despite qualifying for states in both the 100 and 200 free, admits she felt she had something to prove after her sophomore season.
“I got to states, and it was terrifying,” she said. “I was probably paralyzed with fear because it was so new to me. It was intimidating.
“The next year, my junior year, I wanted to go to states and go try my hardest, really show what I have. It was a great experience.”
MacMillan has been swimming competitively since she was four years old. She came by her love of swimming honestly. Her mother, Kathy MacMillan, swam for the University of South Carolina after a standout high school career at Upper Moreland. Quinn also has two older sisters who swam at West.
“At first when I was younger, I didn’t like it,” MacMillan said. “As I started doing it every single day and making goals for myself, I started really liking it.”
That realization hit home when MacMillan was a freshman.
“That’s when I realized – I want to swim in college, I want to make something out of this and try my hardest, and I did,” she said.
MacMillan has been swimming just about every day year round since then, and a typical day begins with practice at 5:30 a.m., and then it’s practice with her high school team at 4 p.m.
MacMillan has had the unique opportunity of swimming under her mother, who is an assistant coach at West.
“My mom has been a great coach,” she said. “She tells me what I’m doing wrong, what I need to fix. She really helps me with swimming, and I don’t know what I’d do without her.
“She’ll be on the sidelines at districts, and she’ll be able to talk to me before races.”
Ask MacMillan what she’ll remember most about her high school swimming career, and no mention is made of the records or the countless wins she’s had in the pool. Instead, she immediately talks about her teammates.
“I made a lot of good friends on my team,” she said. “The whole experience and how much I’ve grown is what I’m going to take away from it. It’s been a crazy ride.
“It’s surreal that it’s almost over. It’s really sad. I feel as thought I was a freshman two days ago.”
According to Swanson, MacMillan is well liked by teammates and opponents alike.
“I teach at (Central Bucks) East, and they had a sleepover, and one of the girls came to my class the next day and said, ‘Quinn is hysterical. I want to be her best friend,’” the Bucks’ coach said. “She’s very funny. She has a very dry sense of humor.
“Oftentimes you will be doing something, and she will come out with a funny comment or phrase. It’s great. She’s a really good person –very kind, very sweet, and she’s very caring. When it’s time to go, she wants to do what’s best.”
MacMillan has made a commitment to take her talents to James Madison University next year, choosing the Virginia school over Ohio State.
“I just got a way better feeling about James Madison,” she said. “When I was at Ohio State, I felt like I was on a different planet, a little fish in a big pond.
“At JMU, I just got a really homey feeling. I felt like I could really grow there.”
An excellent student, MacMillan, who is enrolled in honors and AP classes, plans to major in communications. Swanson, for one, expects her to succeed at the next level.
“She wants to do well in everything she does,” the Bucks’ coach said.
