Lake Wales' Hardman ends high school career as Polk's top swimmer for 4th consecutive year
It’s fair to say that no swimmer in Polk County history made a bigger impression as a freshman than Lake Wales’ Mary Leigh Hardman when she quickly emerged on the scene by winning two state titles. And she kept getting better.
Hardman won one more state title and more medals in both her events at the state meet in all four years of high school. She capped her senior season by again being the dominant swimmer in Polk County, winning two individual county and district titles, one regional title, one regional-runner-up finish and two top-four finishes at state.
Hardman is The Ledger’s 2023 Girls Swimmer of the Year for the fourth year in a row.
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“Of course proud of my state titles, but I'm also very proud of the opportunity that I've had to represent swimming at my school,” Hardman said as she looked back on her high school career.
Overall, she is happy with her senior season and her times, although she is ready for her next challenge at Florida State.
“I'm not upset with where they're at now, but I do want to get faster” Hardman said about her times. “For my high school career, I think where my times are, I think they're pretty good. For college, I would like to get faster and I know that I will. Just having a change of scenery and a different dynamic in terms of the team and the coaching. Not that what I have now is any less, but I think that it will have a positive impact on how fast I become.”
Lake Wales coach Ana Pizarro agrees.
“We haven’t seen her best,” she said. “We’re going to see a lot more of her once she has that full component of the morning practices with the strength and conditioning with the lifting. So I know this is not it. There’s a lot more to see.”
Hardman signed with the Seminoles last month. It was the biggest signing for a Polk County girls swimmer in more than two decades, when Lake Wales’ Ashley Shafer signed with Clemson in 2021.
“I’m definitely looking forward to the team dynamic that they have because when I visited there, I saw how things go and the way that they behave as a team,” she said. “Everyone's very close, very supportive of one another. So I think that it's something that I look forward to and something I sought out when I was looking for schools. So I really like that about the FSU team."
Leader of growing team
When Hardman started at Lake Wales, the girls team was small and not competitive, but Pizarro has built the boys and girls teams to where they’re each the third-best team in the county. Hardman has served as a leader and mentor to her younger teammates. That growth made her senior season her most enjoyable.
“It’s about being part of that bigger team dynamic so much more,” Hardman said. “I don’t want to make it sound as if my past three years were less exciting or less worthy of being recognized. But I thoroughly enjoyed this entire season and I had a lot more fun going to state this year with the team — with our relay team — because it's just more fun to have more people and to have those bonding experiences, especially with some of our other girls who were freshmen and so those are formative moments for them and the rest of their high school swimming career. So it was really fun.”
Pizarro was glad to have a person and athlete like Hardman to build the program around.
“Lake Wales has never been know for swimming, but now we’re breaking that wall little by little,” Pizarro said. “We have a future in this sport and definitely, she was the one who opened the door for everyone. What I l love about her is how humble she is. She has set the standard for other girls to see.”
How Hardman went about her business, Pizarro said, served as a model for her teammates.
With Florida State as her next destination, Hardman leaves Lake Wales as the most decorated girls swimmer in Polk County history. Her three state titles and eight state medals are more than any other girls swimmer from Polk.
“It's an honor,” she said. “It's kind of crazy to think about that. But I think it's really cool, and I think it shows other people that they're capable of doing something like that. And coming from Polk County, I think, we have such a neat dynamic here because I feel like in Polk County, where I live,at least, everybody kind of knows everybody. And so for the people that I've known my whole life or have known me since I began my swimming journey at school to see people like me throughout, people get to see my whole process from start to, you know, going off to FSU to swim. So I think that's really cool.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lake Wales' Hardman Polk's top swimmer for 4th consecutive year
