Swimming
Favorite athlete: Shabazz Napier.
Favorite team: UConn men’s basketball team.
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the District One Class AAA team title freshman year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: At states I thought I saw a swimmer I knew from New Jersey. It was 5 in the morning, and I had completely forgotten thatI was at our state championships. I asked ‘Where is New Jersey sitting?’ and no one has ever let me forget it.
Music on iPod: Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber, Timeflies, Maroon 5.
Future plans: Go to college and major in either special education or physical therapy.
Words to live by: ‘Fall back seven times but get up eight.’
One goal before turning 30: Joining the Peace Corps.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m double jointed in my arms.
Samantha Park is the very definition of a quiet leader.
The Council Rock North senior captain of the girls swim team has been speaking with her hard work and dedication to the team for the past four years.
CR North coach Ted Schueller appreciates what he has in Park.
“She is one of those kids who is a total team kid,” he said. “You don’t hear much from her, she doesn’t make a lot of noise, she isn’t very outspoken and doesn’t get noticed a lot, but she leads by example and she gets the job done.
“She’s just one of those unsung heroes who does anything for the team. I can put her anywhere in the lineup and she’s fine with it and wants to do what she can to help the team.
“She supports every teammate, from the newest to the best and that’s why she got picked to be a captain this year. It’s a team vote. There were 11 girls to pick from, and she was one of the girls who got it and that shows what her teammates think of her.”
Park does not mind not being in the limelight.
“I really love being on this team and I’m honored to be the captain,” Park said. “It’s been such a fun experience and I can’t believe it’s almost over. The time really did fly by.
“I am more of a quiet person a lot of the time and sometimes that means that people don’t always know what I’ve done, but I know what I’ve accomplished so that’s fine.”
She has quite a list of accomplishments.
For starters, she has taken no less than the silver medal in her specialty, the 100-yard backstroke, in each of her four years of competing at the SOL National Conference championships.
Her freshman and sophomore years she finished second to William Tennent’s Melanie Busch, a standout swimmer who earned eight individual event medals at the PIAA Class AAA championships, the highest number a swimmer can earn.
Busch is two years older than Park and moved on to college swimming, first at Maryland and then to Arizona State when Maryland unexpectedly dropped its swim program.
Park’s junior year she won the conference title in the backstroke, which she defended this year with her time of 1:00.34.
“It was very exciting to defend the title,” she said. “It’s a real confidence boost as we go into districts.”
The District One Class AAA meet is an arena where Park has made a steady upward progression.
Her freshman year, she finished sixth, which did not guarantee her a berth at the PIAA championship meet, but her time of 59.56 was fast enough to earn her an at-large bid to the state meet.
She finished 28th with a time of 1:00.18.
“That was still a good experience for me because I got to go to the state meet and see what it was like,” she said. “I learned a lot.”
The following year she finished fourth at the district meet, clocking in at 59.10 and earning her first automatic state spot. That year she finished 18th at states, which is the second alternate for the consolation final. Her time was 58.89.
Last year she improved once again, taking third at the district meet in 58.29.
She went on to her first night swim at states, posting a school record time of 58.07 in the preliminaries at the meet, then going on to the consolation final where she finished 14th overall with her time of 58.14.
“You can see the progression from where she started out to where she is now,” Schueller said. “She’s quietly medaled and scored points at every district meet and a lot of people don’t even know that she’s made the state championships all three years and hopefully will again this year.”
Council Rock junior Tommie Dillione looks to Park for guidance.
“Sam is really a good leader,” said Dillione, who swims on the 400 freestyle relay with Park. “She knows what she’s talking about and I really trust her opinion.
“She doesn’t say much but at the same time she’s speaking volumes. You just know what she’s thinking when she looks at you.
“I love having her as one of our captains and I’m really going to miss her next year.”
Park has her eye on one more step up.
“Hopefully this is the year for me to make the podium at states,” she said. “I’ve been crossing my fingers and trying to work my way up to finally medaling there.
“I’d like to do that and my goal time is a 57 so if I could do those thing that would be awesome.”
But swimming isn’t just about progression and times for Park.
“I always try to make a new friend at every meet,” she said. “Now I have friends all over, from different areas and different states and different teams.
“When I was younger that made competing less scary. When I got to high school, I didn’t stop doing that, and it’s made swimming so much more fun. Practically everywhere I go I run into someone I know.”
She would like to swim in college and her top choice is Mary Washington.
“I think I can swim with them but I have to wait and see if I get accepted,” she said. “It’s the most nerve-wracking wait of my life.
“I really liked it there when I went on my recruiting trip. The team was so nice; it reminded me of CR North. I felt so comfortable there.”
And to think when she was a youngster the backstroke was her worst event.
“I remember bumping my head a lot,” she said. “I think I was a much better freestyler when I was little.
“I’m pretty happy with the way everything turned out for me. I never imagined getting this far. When I was a freshman I was just hoping to medal at SOLs and that was going to be the top for me, and then making it to districts and then states was like a dream come true.
“I never thought I would come this far and then I kept going farther than I thought I could, so I can’t wait to get to districts and see what I can do there.”
