Penn Hills grad’s swimming career hits high note at Edinboro

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, March 13, 2022 | 12:01 PM

Edinboro’s Stephanie Sipple doesn’t like to slap the water at the end of races.

During her swimming career, the Penn Hills graduate couldn’t remember doing it many times. However, after placing fourth at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships in February in the 100 fly, Sipple let some emotion out.

For the first time in eight years, Sipple dropped time in the event, finishing in 56.48 seconds. At the time, Sipple, a senior, thought this may have been her last race.

“I cried, my teammates cried, my parents cried and even my coach was emotional,” Sipple said. “This year, my mindset was it was my last year and I’m going to forget everything else and just swim. I trusted what I did inside and outside the pool.”

At the PSAC championships, Sipple ended up being Edinboro’s top point scorer on either the men’s or women’s team by earning 100 points. Her total was in the top 10 of all the women competing in the event in a field of over 150 competitors.

Sipple placed sixth in the 1,000 freestyle and was fourth in the 200 butterfly, which earned her a B cut for the NCAA Division II championships. Sipple said her time was about .04 off a spot in the national meet.

As a part of the 200 medley relay team with Fox Chapel graduate Leia Ross, Paige Smith and Makayla Schue, Sipple helped the team place fifth with a time of 1:48.34. She also placed sixth in the 1,650 freestyle.

Sipple, who graduated from Cleveland State before her junior season, said this season was a difficult one for personal reasons. She is a psychology major and had started an internship that interrupted her regular practice schedule.

Sipple also battled the mental hurdle of seeing her time stagnate in some events. In order to try to take a different mental approach, Sipple wanted to avoid overthinking things.

“Having not dropped time (in the 100 fly) in so long, I would get frustrated,” Sipple said. “This year, I thought, ‘I’m done and I’m not going to think about anything else but swimming.’ That counteracts some of the burnout.”

But with the season over and some of the emotions faded, Sipple has started to think about going to grad school at Edinboro. She’s hoping with the newly formed Pennsylvania West University — a merger between Edinboro, Clarion and Cal (Pa.) — there will be a few more graduate school tracks open to her.

Sipple’s time with the Fighting Scots has her not ready to let go of swimming yet. She has one year of eligibility remaining.

“My only regret is not coming here in the first place, because I had originally considered coming here before going to Cleveland State,” Sipple said. “The reason I’m considering a fifth year is because of how I feel about my teammates and coaches.”

Tags: Penn Hills