Sports: Swimming and Water Polo
Favorite athlete: Cliff Lee
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: My favorite memory while competing in swimming is the moment when I broke the school 100 backstroke record my freshman year at our League Championship, which was also hosted at our pool. I remember seeing my team and coaches cheering from the pool deck as I was swimming and their support pushed me farther than I imagined.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I have a lot of funny moments that usually involve dancing. You can catch me dancing on the pool deck, in the locker room or on the bus. I will dance any and everywhere.
Music on your iPod: Ellie Goulding, Lady Gaga, Darren Criss
Future plans: Go to college and be happy wherever I am in my life.
Words to live by: The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. - Eleanor Roosevelt
One goal before turning 30: I would love to travel throughout Europe and experience the rich culture.
One thing people don’t know about me: I am an avid Harry Potter fan.
Upper Merion girls swimming coach Jeff Bugenhagen knew Taylor Mateja back when she was an 8-year-old swimmer he coached on the local aquatics club team. Even back then, he recognized that Mateja had the potential to excel in the water.
But it was when the two were reunited in high school that Bugenhagen truly understood the type of swimmer Mateja was, and how good she could be.
“When she came to Upper Merion as a freshman, she wasn’t close to the school record in the backstroke when she joined us,” Bugenhagen said. “She looked up at the record, and that became a goal of hers. The last meet of the season in our home pool, she broke that record.
“To see that she had set that goal and then worked to achieve it … she had put the work in and she knew it was there for her. To see her reap that reward, I knew the kind of athlete I was working with.”
For Mateja – who grew up with a backyard pool and has been swimming for as long as she can remember – her freshman year was a chance to step right in and prove she could be a valuable member of the Upper Merion swim team.
“I wanted to come in and make a difference,” Mateja said. “I didn’t want to be getting the team a point here or there, I wanted to be an important part of the team. I thought that in order to do that, I would have to work hard and use that to be as good as the older girls who had been in the high school and who had been training a lot harder than I had been when I was in middle school.
“I already knew some of the older girls from the aquatic club. I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to be better than them. I pushed myself as hard as I could because I wanted to prove I deserved to be up on the record board and that I deserved to be on the top relay.”
Through her high school years, Mateja has held onto those feelings she had as a newcomer, and has used them to keep pushing herself.
“It helps me stay on my toes, staying in the top shape,” Mateja said. “The girls that came in after me, they were probably thinking the same thing about me and the older girls. And on all the other teams, there are new girls coming in, too. It makes me work harder every year to improve my strengths and drop my times.”
And now that she’s a senior, those feelings and memories of being a freshman are also very useful to Mateja as a co-captain on this season’s Viking squad.
“When I was younger, I always looked up to the older girls on the team,” Mateja said. “It means a lot being able to have the younger girls come to me or look up to me. It definitely makes me want to work a little harder to do something positive for the team.”
As far as Bugenhagen is concerned, though, Mateja is a strong captain both in deeds and words.
“Taylor sets a good example with her work ethic, doing things correctly and she’s the first one to help others when they’re not,” he said. “She helps me as a coach by helping to coach others, explaining things, helping them to do things. She also is our most accomplished swimmer so she’s really helpful in getting other swimmers to understand what they need to do to be more competitive.”
The school record-holder in the 100 backstroke, 200 Individual Medley and 50 freestyle, Mateja has swum at the District One Championships and PIAA State Championships in each of the past three years. Last season, she earned her best individual state finish when she came in eighth in the 100 back (she also finished 24th in the 200 IM at states).
Mateja’s drive and determination doesn’t end when she leaves the pool. She’s also an excellent student who is taking five Advanced Placement classes this year. She is also the Student Council Treasurer and is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society service organizations.
“I’ve always been told by my parents and my older brother and sister, I have to have my academics as good as my athletics,” said Mateja, who has not decided on a college yet, but knows she will be swimming in college. “I like that I’m not just focused on the pool, but it gives me something else to focus my passion and my drive on, to be able to do in the classroom what I do in the pool.
“In a way, it’s like swimming. I enjoy learning and knowing something that someone else may not be learning. I’m challenging myself and achieving something that someone else may not achieve.”
In the fall, Mateja plays on the Vikings’ water polo team. It’s a much different vibe than the swim team, she said, but one she enjoys immensely … even if it often tests her competitive nature.
“The great thing about water polo was that if we didn’t win, it wasn’t a big deal,” she said. “It was more being a team, having a good time together. If we didn’t win, we didn’t win. We just really enjoyed the time being together and playing together, and we had an amazing coach.
“It was very difficult at times – I’m very competitive in the water and out, but during water polo, it gives me a moment to realize, not everything has to be win, win, win. At the end of the day, it came down to, did I have a good time? I can do something fun during water polo season, but still be in shape for swimming.”
Of course, at this point of the swim season, water polo is just a distant memory. Mateja and her teammates finished in fifth as a team at last weekend’s Suburban One Championships, with the 200 medley relay (Mateja, Heather Krick, Taylor Jacobs and Jenna Bednar) finishing third and Mateja taking fourth in the 100 back (second among swimmers from Class AA schools).
Mateja will lead a contingent of four into this weekend’s District One Championships. Mateja will swim the 200 IM and 100 back as well as the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay.
“Taylor can race with the best in the field in backstroke,” Bugenhagen said. “She’s third going into the backstroke, which is about where she’s been going in the last couple years. Last year she finished eighth at states. Our hope is for her to repeat that performance. To get in in the IM as well would be a nice bonus for her.”
And while she has high hopes of advancing to states as an individual, Mateja said it would be a huge thrill to advance a relay to states as well.
“Relay teams are the best thing about being on a swim team,” she said. “After having to swim those individual events, in relays you push yourself even faster because you know you don’t want to let someone down, but you also have that unity with the other girls on the relay.
“I love swimming anchor on the free relay. If we’re behind or close, I love having the opportunity to give everything I’ve got to try to win the race. It gives you the opportunity to be the person who makes the difference in the relay. It can be a lot of pressure, but I love it.”
Wherever Mateja places in districts and states, Bugenhagen knows one thing – she’ll swim her absolute best and leave everything she has in the pool. That’s what she’s done since she was an 8-year-old swimmer. That’s what she does in the classroom. And that’s what she’ll do in the future.
“Taylor is a very well-rounded student-athlete,” he said. “She’s the most talented swimmer I’ve coached in my 15 years. She’s someone who’s extremely passionate about her sport, and about everything she attempts. Whatever she attempts to do in the future, I believe she’ll do well.”
