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High school junior Lily Baumgartner of Ada, Ohio has announced her verbal commitment to swim and study at Ohio University. She attends Ada High School and trains with the Lima Family YMCA Swim Team.
Baumgartner competed in both varsity swimming and volleyball for her first two years of high school, earning scholar-athlete honors in both. After a breakout season in the pool, she made the decision to focus solely on swimming for the remainder of high school, and now intends to continue through college.
Baumgartner specializes in sprint butterfly and backstroke. Last high school season, she dropped over two seconds from both her 100 fly (55.46) and 100 back (57.27) en route to a 3rd and 5th place individual finish at the OHSAA Division 2 State Championship meet. She followed that up with an appearance at YMCA Nationals in the summer, setting best times in the long course versions of the events.
While her stroke 200s aren’t quite at the level of her 100s yet, Baumgartner has only logged six short course swims in the 200 fly and five in the 200 back. She’s already shown remarkable improvement in the 200 fly, dropping nearly 9 seconds from her first recorded swim in February 2022 to April 2023.
Top SCY Times:
- 100 fly – 55.46
- 200 fly – 2:07.02
- 100 back – 57.27
- 200 back – 2:12.79
Ohio University competes in the Mid-American Conference, where the women’s team finished 4th of eight teams last season. They are led by head coach Mason Norman who has been in the role since 2018. Last season, current senior Gabrielle Brust was the team’s only scorer in the 100 fly, placing 3rd at MACs. Baumgartner’s 100 fly time would have qualified for the B-final.
Baumgartner moved to Ada when she was eight years old and initially joined a local summer league team to meet people. From there, she fell in love with the sport and will soon join a program with a strong Ohio presence. Of the 36 athletes currently listed on the women’s team roster, 16 are from Ohio.
Outside of the pool, Baumgartner is a peer leader for Sources of Strength, an evidence-based best practice youth suicide prevention program designed to harness the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture working to prevent suicide, bullying and substance abuse. She is also involved with her school’s yearbook committee.
Baumgartner joins fellow Ohio-native Katrina Kollin in Ohio University’s class of 2029.
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