Alaska State Champion Madison Story Signs with Utah Utes

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High school senior Madison Story from the Kachemak Swim Club in Homer, Alaska, about 200 miles south of Anchorage, has committed to swim for the Utah Utes. She is expected to arrive in Salt Lake City in the fall of 2021.

In November 2019, as a junior, Story won the Alaska High School State Championship in the 200 IM in 2:07.07 and finished 2nd in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.57. She also led off Homer’s 3rd-place 200 free relay with a split of 24.72.

While the 2020-2021 Alaska High School State Championship meet was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, there was an unofficial “Alaska State HS Club Invitational meet” held in its place. At that meet, Story won those same two events, including with a best time in the 200 IM of 2:06.03.

She kicked off her 2020-2021 high school swimming season by breaking the Homer High school records in both the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. While neither is a primary event for her, both were best times.

Notably, her time of 59.05 in the 100 backstroke broke the old school record that was set in 1992 by her mother Corise (Bittner) Story. Corise went on to swim collegiately at the University of San Diego before returning to Homer. In fact, when Madison Story won her state title in the 200 IM, she became her school’s first Alaska state championship in girls swimming since her mom, who won 3 titles in the 100 back and another in the 200 IM before graduating in 1994.

Madison Story won that title after 2 years of injuries stunted her progress. Finally healthy again, she dropped tons of time during her junior season, which has continued into limited racing opportunities as a senior.

Madison Story’s Times Progression (Best Time in BOLD)

Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
50 free 24.83 24.98 24.72 24.68
100 breast 1:07.96 1:05.97 1:03.57 1:03.96
200 IM 2:13.61 2:10.19 2:06.99 2:06.03

Story hasn’t had a chance to swim a sanctioned 200 breaststroke in the new season, but with the progress she’s continued to make in the 200 IM, it’s likely that she’s capable of faster than her best of 2:27.51 in that race.

She is a sprinter who will join a team that most prominently excels in middle-distance races. Their top performer at last year’s Pac-12 Championships was freshman Charity Pittard, who scored 51 points individually. She specializes in the 200 IM (2:00.43), 400 IM (4:17.99), and 200 breast (2:11.54) – so similar to Story, but more middle-distance focused.

The Utah women finished 7th out of 8 teams at last year’s Pac-12 Championship meet. She is part of a huge Ute class that includes Krystal Lieu, Molly Jacobson, Sydney Rogness, Anelise Hedges, Haily Payne, Maile Andresen, Norah Hay, Milla Ruthven, Sofia Carlson, and Anna Booker.

That class of 11 announced athletes so far is the second-straight big class for Utah. The current freshman class has 12 athletes, while the rest of the Utah roster has 22 athletes combined.

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Seward Tsunami Swim Club
3 years ago

Congratulations Madison! Seward Tsunami Swim Club is so proud of you!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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