Haley Willis '20 Recruiting Profile

I was first put in the water at the age of 6 months by my Uncle Mike, who is a retired swim coach for Mountain View High School in Arizona. At that time, the goal was water survival! And so it began, my love for swimming. Now I’m a junior at DeForest High School in Wisconsin, and compete with my high school and club teams.

I have tried other sports, including cross country, gymnastics, and softball, but I’ve always come back to swimming because it was what I loved the most, and was (comparatively) the best at. That said, when I was younger, fast times did not come naturally to me like it did for some of the other kids; but I was told I had great technique and body awareness by my coaches. I had to work harder to keep up with my teammates, and I didn’t always see immediate gratification in my race times. Eventually, all of my hard work started to show in my times! To date, my most exciting moment of swimming was when I placed 3rd at the Division 2 Wisconsin State Meet in the 200 IM as a sophomore.

It’s time to think about life after high school. My goals for college are to study in the business/accounting field and continue my swimming journey. I’ve been able to balance many advanced classes in school with my swim schedule, and I’ve seen good outcomes from both. I want to swim in college because I like being apart of a team and I love competing. My work ethic is a positive influence to my teammates (which was recognized by my high school coach my freshman year). I’ve had great relationships with all of my coaches, which I attribute to my hard work and positive attitude. I’m also a good leader and participate in Norskie Mentors (upperclassmen mentoring underclassmen).