We had the chance to interview Olivia Hoyla, KRKO Russell & Hill’s October female athlete of the month. Hoyla is a senior at Jackson High School and a dedicated competitive swimmer. With years of experience in the pool, she’s learned valuable lessons about perseverance, balance, and the power of teamwork. As she prepares to continue her swimming and academic journey at Claremont McKenna College, Olivia reflects on the moments and mentors that have shaped her path.
SCSC: How did you first get involved in swimming, and what inspired you to pursue it competitively?
OLIVIA: I remember starting lessons when I was three years old, in Snohomish where my grandparents used to live. I have just been swimming since I can remember and I think at six years old, I started swimming competitively for the team down in Shoreline. It’s a really time consuming sport and for a lot of swimmers, it’s something that you are born into.
SCSC: What has been the most memorable moment of your swimming career in high school?
OLIVIA: I think my most memorable moment was in this last year. When getting closer to districts and state, it’s really important that we qualify for our relays if we’re going into districts so we can build a bigger state lineup. I remember we were going for the 200-medley relay state cut, and one of our timers forgot to stop the stopwatch and we didn’t get our time. Our last person finished, and we were behind the blocks so confused, hands in the air. We looked at our coach Drew and we’re like “What just happened?”, and he said, “You guys are fine, you got it.”, but it was definitely the funniest moment of the season.
SCSC: What has been your career highlight?
OLIVIA: Last year and this year I’ve had a pretty hard event lineup. I’ve had back-to-back events and it’s been hard to do with district and state being back-to-back weekends and having to step up and race those events continuously for four days. Last year, I was really proud at districts when we were racing our four free relay and I was anchoring and we were behind, but I was able to catch up and we out-touched them like .02, which is a pretty close race.
SCSC: What has swimming/athletics taught you about yourself both as an athlete and as a person?
OLIVIA: I am in the water a lot or out lifting weights, and it’s really hard to balance having your academic life with your athletic life, but also your social life. In high school especially, where your social life gets bigger and you meet new people and want to do all these fun things, but you have meets on the weekends. Something swimming has really taught me is how to balance all of my worlds and keep relationship with people while also staying in a focused mindset and being able to swim.
SCSC: Do you have any pre-race rituals or superstitions?
OLIVIA: I really like to wear my favorite outfits or my most comfortable outfits. Going into the meet wearing my favorite sweatpants or sweatshirt is my go-to. For routines though, it’s lots of stretching and a lot of yoga.
SCSC: Is there a mentor you look up to? What have you learned from them?
OLIVIA: I would say a really big inspiration has been my high school coach Drew Whorley, and also my old club coach Evan. Both coaches have been incredibly supportive of my entire swimming career, and they’ve always believed in me. They trust me and value me as a person, and every single time I’ve had to step up behind the box, they given me all the confidence.
SCSC: Are you planning to swim competitively in college? Any goals beyond that?
OLIVIA: I am committed to swim at Claremont McKenna College in California. I plan to study in their integrated science department, on the pre-Med track. My ultimate dream is to be a sports medicine physician for any college team or just any athletic team.
SCSC: What’s the one piece of advice that has stuck with you that you want to pass on?
OLIVIA: Get to know the people around you, especially if you are on a team. You never know who you are going to be friends with at the end of the day, but also later in life. I think that having connections, relationships, or friendship with someone can go a long way. Swimming has allowed me to meet so many people. I believe surrounding yourself with people that want the best for you, support you, and love you is the best way to get through anything. I would not be the swimmer or the person that I am if I didn’t have my best friends and my family.