Introducing our WXXV Student Athlete of the Week: St. Patrick’s very own Laina Seal!

This week’s athlete lives life in the fast lane, swimming lanes that is. She’s one of the co-captains for her swim team and has won over 6 state titles, while also fighting through an injury. Introducing our WXXV Student Athlete of the Week, St. Patrick’s Laina Seal!

“My first State Championship I was ten years old and it was actually here,” said student athlete Laina Seal. “I swam one race, the 100 breaststroke, and I got eighth place and I was just so excited. Now if I got eighth place I would not be happy, but I was just absolutely ecstatic that I did something and accomplished this big goal that I had for a few years.

From that moment on she was hooked! St. Patrick senior Laina Seal currently serves as one of the co-captains on the Fighting Irish swim team and the pool has been her second home since she was seven years old.

“From when I was seven to now, I’ve been in the pool almost everyday, every weekend, six days a week,” said Seal. “You just practice as hard as you can because you want to achieve that next goal that you set for yourself or you want to impress your coaches and show them that they should be proud of you. It’s a lot of hard work.”

It’s a lot of hard work when you’re healthy, and extremely difficult when you’re battling an injury. When the seal was 12 years old, she felt a tweak in her shoulder. Almost six years later, she now swims everyday with the pain of tendonitis.

“It got pretty bad around when I was 14. It started to get to where I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore when I was swimming, but I’ve learned how to work through it and I know my stretches, which is the most important thing.”

If you see her at practice or a competition, you’d never know she was experiencing any form of discomfort because she always has a smile on her face. St. Patrick swim coach Kate Morgans says she’s an extremely talented swimmer, but she believes her contagious personality is why she was voted a team captain.

“She is a great leader. She was nominated co-captain by her peers and coaches this year. She’s always the first on deck leading stretches, leading chants, and leading the team prayer,” said Coach Morgans. “She brings a lot of enthusiasm as I’m sure you can tell by the interviews. She’s just a real fun girl and that’s just contagious throughout the whole team.”

“I love leading and making sure everyone’s having fun and being energetic. I just try to make sure everyone’s upbeat and having a good time. If they’re not on my wavelength it’s boring,” Seal said laughing. “I want somebody to bounce up off of and to match my energy and I just want people to love it as much as I did growing up and still do now.”

Seal has loved the sport for many, many years, but her time in the lanes is coming to an end soon. The good news is she’ll be striving to defend her state championship title in the 200 yard IM, which she also won in the South State last week. The bad news is, it will be her final time swimming with her teammates who double as family.

Laina: “I’m super excited, but I’m also kind of sad because this is my last two weeks practicing ever for anything. It’s bittersweet because it’s the last few weeks with the team I’ve had for four years and some of these people I’ve been swimming with my whole life, so it’s going to be weird.”

Although she’ll miss the sport that built her, she’s excited for a new chapter. Seal plans on majoring in nursing at the University of South Alabama and later becoming a psychiatric nurse.

Best of luck to Laina and the rest of our coast swimmers as they compete in the State Championship next week!