Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Mt. Pleasant’s SaraJo Gardner

By: Anthony Difilippo
Monday, February 13, 2023 | 11:40 AM

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Mt. Pleasant’s girls swimming team has been one of the WPIAL’s most dominant programs the last few seasons.

Last month, the Vikings claimed their third Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association team title in four years. (The meet was canceled in 2020.)

A big part of the team’s success is SaraJo Gardner, who was a member of winning teams in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 200 medley relay and placed second by 1.06 seconds in the 100 backstroke.

She also placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke, a finish she attributed to the fact it ran back-to-back with the backstroke.

SaraJo is not the first in the Gardner family to come through the Mt. Pleasant system.

She has two older sisters, LynnJoelle and Heather, and a younger brother, Joe, who broke a record himself at the WCCA meet in the 100 breaststroke.

Gardner enjoys growing up in a family of swimmers and noted how that’s affected her.

“When I was a freshman and able to swim with my older sister, Heather, that was so much fun,” Gardner said. “It makes it way more fun when you’re swimming with your siblings.”

Gardner plans to attend Canisius in Buffalo to swim and major in marketing.

In the midst of her senior season, Gardner took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How did you get started with swimming?

I started swimming when I was 6. I joined the Aqua Club. My older sisters had already been on the team, so I wanted to follow what they were doing and I joined.

How would you describe your personal performance at the WCCA meet?

I was very happy with how I did on my backstroke. I was very happy with my time, considering how I swam last year at states. I actually went faster at counties than I did last year at states. My breaststroke, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, considering it is the event right after back. I really didn’t have that much rest, maybe 10 minutes at most. So I was very happy with how I did in my breaststroke considering I had just swam. It was a pretty good time, considering I was tired from the race beforehand.

What is the mentality when swimming a relay?

I feel like, for me personally, I feel a lot more at ease whenever I’m swimming a relay, because I know my teammates are there to support me. Whenever I swim individually, it’s all on me. We always have a little team relay meeting before the relay starts. We get each other pumped up. We expect a lot from each other, but we know how hard each other works, so a lot goes into it and we have a lot of faith in each other.

How did you decide which strokes to specialize in?

Growing up, I mostly did breaststroke. As I got into junior high and high school, I kind of switched more to the backstroke and my older sister Heather, she was more of the breaststroke swimmer on the team. Once she graduated, I took her spot as the breaststroker in the medley relay because I was the next best. I never swam breaststroke in WPIALs or states, but it was always a dual meet thing. I’m better at the backstroke, and I wish back and breaststroke were on different days or more spread out. At a big meet like WPIALs or states, I can’t do both, which really is unfortunate. I train both, so I’m pretty decent at both.

What kind of goals do you have heading into the postseason?

Last year, we were able to win WPIALs as a team, that was the first time in Mt. Pleasant history. That was definitely a big accomplishment. We also won all three relays at WPIALs last year, so we’re definitely hoping to win as a team again. Hopefully all three relays are able to pull through and win again. In states last year, we lost by six or eight points as a team. We were the runner-up. Definitely we want to secure the gold this year. We can do it. We all know what we need to do. We have some swimmers that are going to be doing different events, and we’re definitely strategizing. Our goal is definitely to win overall.

What is one thing that people may not know about you?

One thing that people may not know about me is whenever I was 8 years old, I compound fractured my arm, and I have a metal plate and six screws in my left arm.

Tags: Mt. Pleasant