Ashburn, Va. — Stone Bridge High School senior Brooke Matthias has made a commitment to continue her swimming career at Pennsylvania State University starting in the 2018-2019 school year.
“The recruiting process was fun, and I was fortunate to have a lot of great options. It was just very hard figuring out which school would be the best fit for me,” the 5-foot-5 Matthias said. “Once I committed last August, I could just focus on swimming and school.”
[adrotate banner=”18″]And focus she did.
To cap off her 2018 season, Matthias placed second in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke events at the VHSL 5A State Championships after placing second and fourth respectively in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events at the VHSL Region 5C Championships.
“Swimming for Stone Bridge has been a great experience. I have been able to create incredible friends, and even though swimming is a very individualized sport, being able to score points for your school and represent them is such a wonderful feeling,” said Matthias, who was named First Team All-LoCo for the fourth time following the 2018 season. “My favorite moments are when you see one of your teammates have a big drop toward the end of the season, and you see their hard work pay off.”
Matthias’ times continued to drop throughout the year as she turned in Loco top-5 finishes in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.41), 100-yard butterfly (54.43) and 100-yard backstroke (54.76) events. In the state championship meet, Matthias earned All-American honors in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke events.
Matthias hopes to improve on her times even more as she moves on to Penn State. Led by fourth-year head coach Tim Murphy, the Division I Nittany Lions finished eighth at the Big Ten Championships in 2018.
“I am hoping that I can add depth to the fly and back events and score points for the team in dual meets as well as the Big Ten Championship and the NCAA Championship,” Matthias said. “The coaches are tremendous, and I felt confident in them getting me to my best. The team itself is one big family, and I’m really excited to join it.”
From her early love of water to her All-American senior year, Matthias continues to work as hard as ever to be the best swimmer she can be.
“I first started to swim for safety reasons as my parents saw I loved being in the water. I then got into competitive swim from being on the Ashburn Farm Barracudas summer swim team,” Matthias said. “I have always loved swimming because the harder you work, the bigger the reward you will see in the future.”