Super Swimmer

It was a love for water and a brother’s inspiration that led senior Haley Timmons to become a champion swimmer.

Just before she turned nine, Timmons’ mother wanted her and her brother to become more active. Soon after, lifeguards at the local pool saw her brother swimming and saw potential in him, encouraging him to join a swim team. His younger sister soon followed in his steps.

“I’ve loved it since day one,” Timmons said. “I’ve kind of always looked up to my brother.”

Almost a decade later, swimming is no longer just a sport. It’s turned into a lifestyle for the senior.

“Swimming is everything,” Timmons said. “You know, it’s kind of like – it’s what I stress over, it’s what I use to get over stress, it’s my relaxation time, it’s my fun time, it’s my work time, it’s my job, it’s – you know, literally getting money for it to go to college. It’s where I make friends, it’s life.”

When Timmons was 14 she went to the Texas Age Group Swimming Qualifying meet, where she swam four events, racing her best times in a couple of them. She missed an Olympic Trial cut by only 0.97 seconds in the 200 butterfly.

“They have made the Olympic Trial cuts for 2016 harder,” Haley’s mom, Cheryl Timmons said. “But Haley is still only 2.47 seconds off an Olympic Trial cut in the 200 butterfly and 2.33 seconds off in the 100 butterfly.”

Now the senior’s striving to maintain her times and continue to improve them. Her USA Swim/Nitro coach will work with her over the next few months to keep working on her times to qualify by the Olympic trial cutoff in June.

“Gee, I would never have thought I’d get to where I am now,” Timmons said. “I was hoping that I’d be there by the end of my college career, but then I have it at 14, so I’m like ‘Oh my gosh.’ Now, I just need to get back to where I was when I was 14.”

Timmons has had great success with high school swimming. She’s competed at the state meet each year, including taking third in the butterfly at state her sophomore year. After struggling with her times during her junior year, she had her best 100 butterfly time of her life at regionals last season.

“We had a lot of the team make it to regionals,” Timmons said. “It was just such a fun atmosphere for one of the final meets of the season. I was coming back off of a slump and swam with my best times ever, got my national cuts back and just felt like everything was coming back together.”

Timmons has been to Junior Nationals four times and is currently at her fifth one, Dec. 9-12. The nationals meet is one of the biggest in the nation, where many swimmers, including Olympians, come to compete.

“I walked on deck with Ryan Lochte,” Timmons said. “And the timers were talking about how I was so tiny, then I swam and they were like ‘Dang, tiny girl’s fast.’”

Her size does nothing to diminish her qualities, though.

“Haley’s attitude is so positive and always encouraging,” swim coach Kailah Ramsey said. “She’s such a humble individual. You don’t ever see her frowning or upset. She can be someone who is at an Olympic status, close to an Olympic status, yet she will humble herself and happily go help someone who is just learning to swim. She’s very versatile and always positive and upbeat so her attitude and hard work brings a lot of positivity to the team.”

That hard work is evident outside the water as well. Timmons also runs cross country and track. While running helped to strengthen her swimming ability, it also allowed her to go to state in another sport. Timmons advanced to cross country state all three years she ran.

“It wasn’t my best,” Timmons said. “But it was an experience. It was a chance to meet friends, meet new friends, old friends, and just have a chance to have fun and enjoy a chance that I’ve worked hard to earn.”

In addition to competing in two sports, Timmons also swims with the team Nitro, which leads to a complicated, busy schedule. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she attends double swim practices, swimming for Nitro from 5:15 a.m. – 7:15 a.m. She then switches to the school’s swim practice from 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she attends cross country/track from 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday, she attends a second afternoon practice which includes dryland work for 30 minutes and then more swimming from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Even amidst this schedule though, she’s managed to find a way to have a bit of a life with some hobbies and other activities.

Hopefully, that schedule will calm down in the fall with her move to the collegiate level. Timmons was recruited by about 30 Division 1 colleges and was offered 11 official recruiting visits. She took five, including Cornell, Rutgers, The University of Illinois, The University of Houston and The University of North Texas. Timmons chose UNT and plans on majoring in physics as well as swimming for the school.

“It was a lot of little factors that just put it a little above all the other schools,” Timmons said. “But one of the main things that made me choose UNT was the coach. He was just so enthusiastic and he seemed like he wanted to coach me and I couldn’t turn away from that.”