‘Clearly the best female swimmer’

With her eyes always on the next goal, Post Falls’ Sarah Finley is bound to make waves as a college-level swimmer.

She’s been a member of the Post Falls High School swim team for four years and qualified for state each year. This year, she helped the team win the state title with a stronger point margin than the team’s state win last year.

Of course, it didn’t hurt the team’s chances when Finley broke two state records while at the state meet in late October.

“She’s clearly the best female swimmer in the state right now,” said Post Falls swim coach Glenn Mabile.

Finley started swimming in fifth grade, but didn’t like the sport at first. She tried again her freshman year and kept swimming after a friend told her she had some serious potential. Mabile said Finley didn’t set the world on fire her first year back in the water, but she showcased her skills by qualifying for state and contributing to the team. Once she realized she had the talent, she set her sights on the top slot.

Finley joined the Coeur d’Alene Area Swim Team the next year to swim during the off season and double up on her practices during the high school season. She often hit the water 12 times a week and lifted weights three times a week. In all, she spent about 25 hours a week training before and after school during the season.

Finley still swims with the Coeur d’Alene Area Swim Team and keeps up with practices. Her time at the pool leaves little room for a busy social life, but she doesn’t mind. As a D.A.R.E role model, IDFY volunteer and Peak mentor, she believes time is better spent in the pool than being out to parties and drinking on the weekends.

“I’d rather push myself as far as I can than know that I couldn’t because I made a stupid mistake when I was younger,” she said.

Mabile has seen Finley’s devotion pay off after watching her grow from a nonswimmer to qualifying for state, making finals and setting state records.

“That’s a pretty steep curve,” he said. “There are very few kids that do that.”

He said Finley carefully plotted her successes and has shown her drive by setting goals and achieving them. She also puts in long hours lifting weights or swimming outside the organized practices.

“She just goes out and gets it – that’s what champions do,” Mabile said.

She’s put her name at the helm of three state records, including her 200 freestyle at 1:56:57, which she set last year, the 100 butterfly at 58:12 and the 500 open at 5:10:39. She holds school records in the 50 freestyle at 24:59 and the 100 freestyle at 53:21.

Finley said she starts every season by typing a list of goals for the season, every event, every time she wants, what records she wants to break and what places she hopes to get. Then she posts it on her refrigerator so she’d be reminded each day of what to do to keep her goal in sight.

“I could easily slack off, but I’d realize my goals and say no way,” she said. “I can dig deep inside of me and do it.”

Finley’s met several personal goals and kept moving to the next level. Last year she qualified for senior sectionals. This year she made junior nationals, a goal she set this spring. She’s now facing consideration for the All-American Scholar Athlete Award, a group of the top athletes in the country, because of her strong grade-point average and her swimming feats. As she wraps up her final year in high school, she’s looking forward to college.

A few colleges have offered scholarships already, including a full-ride at University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. She may wait to decide and hopes to be part of a PAC-10 school.

“Although I have high expectations for her, I think she always exceeds those expectations,” Mabile said. “There’s no limit to her eventual accomplishment because she sets her goals so high and achieves them.”