Mastering a skill within a short amount of time is difficult, but nothing is impossible for Sabrina Salas. Fourteen-year-old Salas swims for the Wiregrass Ranch swim team and Tampa Elite Aquatics. She’s on the varsity team as a freshman, yet has only been competitively swimming for two years.

“I practice really hard,” Salas said. “I work on club swim more to become stronger.”

Salas dedicates a good amount of time to swim, which makes it difficult to manage her schedule but she finds ways to adapt.

“It’s normally hard to make time for both swim and school,” Salas explained. “Sometimes I would have school practice for two hours, then I would have club practice right after and wouldn’t get home until eight which is when I would have to start my homework.”

Salas usually swims the 100 yard butterfly and the 200 medley relay for Wiregrass swim. She also occasionally swims the 200 freestyle relay, the 400 freestyle relay, and the 500 yard freestyle. Her primary race, the 100 fly, shows just how strong Salas has become with numerous first place finishes, helping her team increase their total points. Alisa Cimino, coach for the Wiregrass girls swim team, sees potential in Salas.

“As a freshman, Sabrina has turned out to be a great addition to the team,” coach Cimino explained. “She was excited to be part of the team and she works hard to be successful. Her dedication is evident in her improvements in her swimming and qualifying for Regionals.”

Salas hopes to pursue swimming in college and is working towards earning a swim scholarship. Her improvement over the past two years is evident and she plans to keep growing stronger to achieve her goals.

“I’m actually really proud of myself” Salas exclaimed. “I’ve been swimming for a short amount of time and I’m almost at the speed of a person who’s been swimming longer. When I was nine, I used to cry in my room over not wanting to go swimming, I never would have thought I’d end up here.”