Brookstone’s Hannah Mattson named All-Bi-City Girls Swimmer of the Year

Brookstone swimmer Hannah Mattson had no semblance of a sophomore slump for her team in the 2016-2017 season.

After having a breakout season as a freshman, Mattson only got better in her sophomore year. It culminated in an impressive showing at the state meet, as she finished second in the finals of the 200- and 100-yard freestyle.

As a result, Mattson has been selected as the All-Bi-City Girls Swimmer of the Year for the second straight season.

Mattson said she was determined to not only meet the high points from her freshman year but exceed them. The goal, however, would require a tremendous amount of work.

For a swimmer like Mattson, a challenge like that is never too big.

“Going into my sophomore year, I knew that I wanted to place higher at high school state, but I think my main focus was our relays and getting to there with my teammates,” Mattson said. “During the offseason, I swam with the (Columbus) Hurricanes anywhere from 15-20 hours a week to prepare for the short course season.”

Mattson said as few as 10 days away from the pool can wreck a swimmer’s fitness and capability in the pool, which constantly motivated her to stay in the water. She said Christmas training was crucial in how her season ended.

The results reflected how important Mattson’s work was around the holidays; when Brookstone returned from the break, Mattson posted some of her best times.

She showed out once again in the area championships, finishing first in the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle. Her emphasis on helping the relay team also paid off, as Brookstone’s girls finished third in the event and qualified for state.

With her teammates in tow, Mattson took to Georgia Tech for the state meet. She explained she was not quite as nervous as most leading up to the event because the Hurricanes’ swim team has competed there before, making the scene a more familiar one. The butterflies weren’t present during preliminaries, but the finals were a completely different story.

Mattson put aside her anxiousness and geared up for both events. Her impressive times may have caught many onlookers by surprise, given how the meet is usually dominated by teams around Atlanta.

The results certainly caught Mattson off guard.

“I was really surprised actually,” Mattson said. “I had no intention of even placing in the top five, and I told myself that I was just going to swim my own race and see what happens. There were a ton of fast girls there, most of which had faster times than me, so I just felt privileged to make it to finals in the top 10.”

As strong as Mattson’s solo swimming was, for Mattson, it fell a peg below her involvement with the relay team at the meet.

“The highlight of the season for me was preliminaries at state because I got to spend them with my teammates Anna Leary, Rachel Leary, Ava Pahl, Abigail Pitts and Mackenzie Koon,” Mattson said. “We were all very excited and motivated to make finals, which we missed by less than a second. The work we put in this season really showed, and we finished at a higher place than we were originally seeded.”

As for her goals going forward, Mattson said she hopes to help the relay team get back to finals after narrowingly missing this season. She hopes to replicate her second-place finishes at state, which she said will be no easy task as the competition is trying to improve just as much as she is.

Mattson has already displayed a great deal of improvement as a swimmer at Brookstone. At the rate she’s going, the trend will only continue come 2017-2018.

“I couldn't have accomplished anything without the support of my teammates and coaches, Anne Hanna Merritt, Sally Bradley and David Cowser,” Mattson said. “Just before finals on Saturday, we all had breakfast together and spent a fun day in Atlanta. It was so nice to have everyone cheering for me back home, and I'm more than privileged to swim with them.”

This story was originally published April 25, 2017 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Brookstone’s Hannah Mattson named All-Bi-City Girls Swimmer of the Year."