Name: Connor Groya

School: York, senior

Sport: Swimming

Why he was selected: Groya won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 free at the IHSA state meet, becoming York’s first state swimming champion. He was voted the Athlete of the Week by readers. Here is his interview with Sports Editor Joshua Welge.

Welge: What does it mean to be York’s first state swimming champion?

Groya: It’s an honor. I’m thrilled to be the first one to do it and hopefully more will come in the future. I’m super excited and happy that all the hard work put into the season and basically all four year paid off in a great way to end my high school career, and for my coach.

Welge: Your winning margin in the 50 was pretty significant, two-tenths of a second, considering the short distance. What happened there?

Groya: Going into the state meet, I had done the 50 quite a bit throughout the season, and the past couple times before state at conference and sectionals I didn’t feel fantastic; I had a little bit of a rough swim at sectionals. I was at a 20.92, the third seed going into Friday’s prelims, but was excited to go into state and feed off the energy. I ended up going good in prelims, 20.59, .09 off my best. I was just amped up for the 50, such a fun race, it’s pure speed, but the hard part about the 50 is you mess up one thing and that could be the race. The 20.27 in finals, that was the best 50 I ever had. I felt good coming off the blocks, took one breath the whole 50, hard to see anyone but on the turn I saw Jacob Drozd next to me and I was a decent margin ahead of him.

Welge: Have you always swam the shorter distances?

Groya: This was my first year swimming the 50 in high school. Previously I swam the 100 and 200. I was focusing on the 200 throughout high school but this year in club my 200 wasn’t progressing as much, hitting a plateau, but my 50 was progressing. I talked about it with my high school coach, parents, club coach, thought it was a good idea to pursue the 50, especially with the 200 race at state pretty stacked. I used to not be as big a fan of the 50, but I’m grown to like it more and more. Like the 100, it is pure speed, not a whole lot of strategy. I just love the competition.