Grateful Maddie Hart aiming for new ending
As birthdays go, Maddie Hart has had better.
On March 12, Hart was undergoing final preparations for the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships the next week. The Penn State senior was looking to that meet as a culmination, capping a stellar four years in State College with a second chance to compete on college swimming’s biggest stage.
But on that Thursday, Hart’s 22nd birthday, it all came tumbling down. The tidal wave of cancellations wrought by COVID-19 started toppling events one by one like dominoes, from colleges to conferences. Before the NBA would suspend its season late that night and the NHL and MLS would follow the next day, college postseason tournaments went by the wayside, including the wiping of winter championships by the NCAA.
“The first half of my birthday was great,” Hart said in a recent phone interview. “The second half, not so much.”
The four months since have augmented Hart’s perspective of that decision. What once stung the Haverford High grad and two-time Daily Times Girls Swimmer of the Year has become, in the hindsight borne of months of lockdown and quarantine, a much more palatable decision. What once seemed unthinkable now appears, in retrospect, like an obvious and perhaps inevitable decision.
“It was a complete shock, something that I’ve been looking forward to and something I felt like was my culmination of four years at Penn State, having that one last meet, one last race, sort of thing,” Hart said. “And obviously it was something I was preparing for, for months, and to learn of the cancellation was devastating. But knowing that there’s such bigger things than the sport of swimming out there put everything in perspective, and obviously I wouldn’t want to put anyone’s lives in jeopardy.”
Luckily, Hart is in position to write a different ending to her career. She holds a U.S. Olympic Trials cut in the 100 butterfly and hopes to continue swimming for the next year to reach next summer’s Olympic Trials. In the meantime, she’s finishing up her studies in elementary education at Penn State, which requires a semester student teaching before she graduates in December.
Hart has an open invitation from Nittany Lions Aquatic to train there even though her college eligibility is up. She was able to get in the pool at the YMCA in State College during portions of the lockdown around a short stint at home in Havertown.
“As of right now, I am going to train with them for Trials, but I have to see how everything goes with the upcoming school year and take it day-by-day,” Hart said. “I’m not really putting too much pressure on myself. If I do end up going to Trials, it will be 100 percent for the experience. Obviously I’m not expecting to go to the Olympics. If it’s still happening – I’m not getting my hopes up – Trials definitely will be a super nice experience to go to and finish my swimming career.”
The most important part of the puzzle is her studies, where she has a placement lined up for a third-grade class near campus. Of all the pronouncements about reopening during coronavirus that she’s keeping track of, those pertaining to school reopening and the balance of in-class and remote learning are foremost in her mind.
The missed NCAAs chance hits a little differently for Hart. It’s not a meet that’s been an automatic on her calendar but rather something she has built toward in her career. As a sophomore, she was close enough to NCAA cuts to swim in a last chance meet. As a junior, she made it to NCAAs in three events, the 100 and
200 fly and 100 backstroke, finishing 25th in each of the first two.
This year, she entered seeded 16th in the 100 fly,
25th in the 200 back and
35th in the 100 back, a legitimate threat to make a final. It would’ve been the logical next step in her ascent.
Like last year, Hart would’ve been one of only two Penn State swimmers at NCAAs, the Nittany Lions a growing but still peripheral factor on the national scene. Last spring, it was Philly native and Suburban Swim Club alum Ally McHugh, who won the 1,500 free. This year, Hart would’ve accompanied training partner Marie Schobel, also entered in the 100 back.
The time spent at home has helped Hart reframe what she’s missing. It’s looking increasingly likely that college sports won’t go on as planned this year. If they do, they’ll be drastically diminished in the name of safety, particularly for sports that are not football. Hart is grateful to have gotten the senior season that she had, even if it didn’t end the way she envisioned. And if she had to chose between NCAAs and all that preceded it, she would’ve gladly taken the full season with her mates that she got to experience.
“I’m so thankful for that now, because it’s not looking likely for the rising seniors now,” Hart said. “That made me that much more appreciative of the memories and what I was able to do. Yes, I would’ve loved to have gone to NCAAs and been able to swim my final race at that high of a level, but I would not have traded NCAAs for the final dual-meet season, because that’s the reason I swim and the memories I’ll hold most dear when I look back at my four years.”