Unionville High School senior Izzy Iwasyk, the 2024 Daily Local News Girls Swimmer of the Year, has an impressive resume that features many highlights, including 10 PIAA 3A state championship medals.
The road to those medals wasn’t all peaches and cream. In her junior year at Unionville, Iwasyk suffered a back injury in an auto accident early in the swimming season but rebounded later that winter to win two state medals.
“That back injury had an impact, her entire junior year,” noted Unionville swimming coach Mike Mangan. “Her times were not where she wished they would be, even at the end of that season, but Izzy was able to return to her previous form, turn the page on her junior year, and truly impress at Districts and States this winter.”
At the 2024 PIAA District 1 3A Championships, Iwasyk finished first in the 100 yard freestyle (50.65) and 50 free (23.14). Three weeks later, at the PIAA 3A state championships, she captured two medals and completed her high school swimming career with a second-place finish in the 100 free with a school record and PR 49.59. Her second-place finish was her highest-ever placing at States.
“Izzy has the ability to manage that attention and maintain a resilient attitude when things don’t go the way she hoped they would,” said Mangan. “What I admire most about her is her ability to handle the persistent background pressure of expectations and the glare of attention; whether it be from school or the outside world.
“Izzy has a tremendous ability to turn the page on a perceived bad swim or a bad meet, or a season of injury, and look to the next one with optimism. It’s truly an admirable quality. Anyone can have a good attitude when things are going well, but what sets Izzy apart is her ability to move on from setbacks, refocus and not let the setback impact what’s happening right now. And to me this is the key to understanding her success.”
At States, Iwasyk finished fourth in the 50 free with a clocking of 23.10, an improvement over her gold-medal winning time of 23.14 at Districts. In the final swim of her high school career — the second-place finish in the 100 free on March 14 — Iwasyk was one of three swimmers to break 50 seconds in that race.
“I think that 100 free was my best performance this season,” said Iwasyk. “My favorite memory from States this year was celebrating with my (two) competitors who also broke 50 seconds. The key to my success that day was just my mindset. It was my last high school swim and I wanted to make it a good one.”
Iwasyk has won seven PIAA 3A state championships medals as an individual – including both the 50 free and 100 free as a sophomore, junior and senior. But Iwasyk said her favorite memory of her high school swimming career was working with three other swimmers, winning the District 1 3A title in the 200 medley relay as a freshman. That quartet (senior Molly Carson, Emma Shields, Madelyn Lowe and Iwasyk) went on to finish third at States, and it was the first PIAA 3A state medal of Izzy’s high school career.
Mangan values the leadership that Iwasyk has brought to the developing Unionville girls swimming program.
“Izzy has been instrumental in bringing attention to our program,” said Mangan. “Her focus and determination in swimming has really set an example for the other swimmers to follow. She’s a great teammate, but what really sets her apart is the way she dominates her events in a way that swimmers want to try to emulate. She’s the swimmer other swimmers watch and say ‘Wow.’”
Earlier this year, Iwasyk noted the recent growth of the Unionville girls swimming program on Senior Night: “My freshman year we weren’t even doing (full) meets, it was just kind of getting some times in and getting to Districts. To now have a full Senior Night, with a bunch of people in the stands cheering for us, is really nice.”
One of the highlights of the Longhorns’ Senior Night last February was a tribute to a late member of the Unionville Class of 2024, Emma Hill, who was a close friend of Izzy’s and who passed away on Feb. 19, 2022 after a brief, severe illness.
“Emma and I were best friends since 2nd grade — swimming with her was what really brought us together,” said Iwasyk. “Emma always made practice and school better and put a smile on my face. We had a great time together my freshman season and made so many great memories.”
Iwasyk’s interest in competitive swimming began as a youth after her mother signed her up for a summer league team at the Hockessin (Del.) Athletic Club in the Suburban Swim League.
“That was where I realized I had some talent, so my mom then signed me up for winter swimming at the Western YMCA. After a year at Western, I moved to the Kennett YMCA and I found a great team there and started swimming really well. I have always liked the sprint events the most but I love swimming the IM and the 100s of stroke.”
Iwasyk trains and competes with Diamond State Aquatics in Wilmington, Del, and while she credited all of her coaches for her swimming development, she noted that Zach Nerwinski, the Program Director of Diamond State Aquatics, has coached her the longest.
“Zach made me the swimmer I am today,” said Iwasyk.
Iwasyk, who has been awarded All-American and Scholastic All-American honors all four years of her high school career, said her favorite swimming experience (to date) was when she qualified for the Speedo Junior Nationals in the long course 50 free at the 2022 LC Futures Championship in Geneva Ohio with a clocking of 26.50.
“I remember celebrating with my team after and just being in shock about my swim,” said Iwasyk.
A National Honor Society member, Iwasyk enjoys her math courses at Unionville and plans to major in finance at Auburn University, where she has committed to swim for the Tigers. Her main events for Auburn will be the 50 free and 100 free, and she will probably swim the 200 IM for the Tigers as well.
Mangan said, “I have been thankful for all that Izzy has done for our team the past four years, but in a special way, the leadership she brought in terms of her pure swimming talent and ability, hard work, determination and accomplishment.”
