Mount Vernon Community Schools don’t offer a swimming program, per se. That doesn’t mean none of their students compete.
“In the fall, since we don’t offer swimming and diving, our kids go to Washington High School in Cedar Rapids,” Mount Vernon athletic director Matt Thede explained.
Those kids have been finding success at their school away from school.
One of the four Mount Vernon High School students finding such success include Mustang senior Isabel Hawker.
“I was kind of introduced to the program by my sister (Mount Vernon star athlete Lillie Hawker), who swam for Washington previously.”
Another early booster, Hawker said, was a family friend and a paraeducator at Mount Vernon Middle School, Mike Jones, who made an impression on Hawker.
Evidently, she left one on him, as well.
“Mike Jones is the one who kind of talked me into diving, because he knew I was a former gymnast,” said Hawker.
With Jones’ encouragement, Hawker reached out to the Cedar Rapids Washington diving coach, and she found a place on the team in her freshman year.
“It was a cool experience. Right away, I felt welcomed by the team even though I didn’t go to their school. I only knew my sister and two other people on the team from Mount Vernon, at the time,” Hawker said.
“I convinced one of my friends to go out for diving with me,” she said of teammate Hedy Zmolek, also a senior. “So we kind of took on the new adventure together.”
“The coaches at Wash are just amazing. Our diving coach, Don Bear- he’s one of a kind. It was great being able to dive for him,” Hawker enthused.
“He was previously a two-time state champion, All-American. So, he really knew what he was doing. He had a really good ‘diver first’ approach. I knew I could always trust him to push me, but he would never make me do something that he knew I wasn’t capable of.”
Cora Wheeler and Aleece Lee are the other two Mustangs participating in the Washington program. The pair take part in the swimming portion, while Hawker and Zmolek focus on diving.
Earlier this month, the four girls were with the team as they competed in the regionals, finishing fourth as a team. Hawker, placing second, advanced to state along with Wheeler, who had qualified in a medley relay.
With their final season now behind them, Hawker and Zmolek are reflecting on the year past like true competitors.
“Being my senior season, I definitely set some expectations for myself and what I wanted to accomplish during my final chance,” Zmolek said.
“The day before our first meet this season, I suffered a meniscus injury and was out for many weeks, and missed a majority of our dual meets. I came back just in time to dive at senior night, but caught a pretty serious illness that had me out from pretty much all exercise, let alone diving, for weeks once again. After some bargaining with my doctors, I decided to go after regionals with the hopes of making state. I pushed really hard in those two weeks to get all of my dives back, as well as add some new ones to increase my degree of difficulty. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough, and the pieces didn’t fall into place,” said Zmolek.
“I have met some of my best friends through the team, and I will always be grateful to have spent my final season with them, even if most of it was cheering from the deck.”
“It went pretty well,” Hawker reflected of her season. “I got new personal records this season. I didn’t reach all the goals I had set at the beginning of the season, but there were a few setbacks during the year that I was able to get over and make it to state, still,” said Hawker.
“I was happy at the end of the state meet.”