Westmoreland Senior Spotlight: Franklin Regional’s Owen Holm

By: Anthony Difilippo
Monday, February 14, 2022 | 12:06 PM

Previous Next

School, swimming, homework, sleep, repeat.

This is the life of senior Franklin Regional swimmer Owen Holm.

“One weakness I have is pushing through all the tiredness, all the exhaustion,” Holm said.

Holm definitely hasn’t shown it in the pool, being a part of a relay team that earned a PIAA medal last year and an FR boys squad that recently tied with Hempfield for the team title at the WCCA swimming and diving championships.

Holm said last year’s experience was special.

“It was a really fun and rewarding experience,” Holm said.

“It just shows that working hard all year long can pay off, and you can get a medal.”

Holm, along with younger brother Benjamin Holm, Holden Thomas and Aiden Bunker, won the 400 freestyle relay at the WCCA meet a few weekends ago.

Holm finished in third in his two individual events (100 butterfly and 100 freestyle), as well as second in another relay event, the 200 freestyle relay.

Franklin Regional is undefeated in its section.

Holm echoes the thoughts of many swimmers, which is that the sport should get more acclaim.

“I think that swimming should be more respected because we do train a lot,” Holm said. “There’s a ton of stuff that goes into it, and you have to stay on top of all of that, otherwise you’re going to fall.”

Holm intends to swim at the collegiate level, either at John Carroll or Mount Union, while majoring in computer science.

With WPIALs drawing ever closer, Holm took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How did you get started swimming?

I got started with swimming because my older brother (Eli) swam already, and my dad decided that I should try it because swimming’s an important skill in life. He said, “Owen, try swimming,” and I started liking it, joined teams and just kept on going.

How do you think things are going this season?

It’s going all right. It could be better. We’re not really getting the times we want to get, but that’s because we’re training so hard right now. My coach has a saying: “We’re just putting money in the bank.” So, later at WPIALs and states, hopefully all of this hard work will pay off.

How do you feel about your performance in the WCCA meet?

I’ll start off with my individual performance. My two individual events were back-to-back, which made it a little difficult to get the times I wanted to get. It was all right because I had to do what I had to do for the team. I guess that worked out best because we ended up tying for first with Hempfield. Overall, I think the team did very well. It’s going to be very exciting to see what’s going to happen at WPIALs later.

What are expectations like for the rest of the season?

We’re still undefeated in our section as of now. We’re trying to win a section title, which is going to be difficult. Maybe we’ll get a little lucky, and we can win that. For the WPIALs, we think we have a shot at winning a relay. We’re not sure what relay it is yet. We have to talk with (coach Vic Santoro) about that. We think we might be able to do that and then go up to states and place even higher than we have before.

What is your biggest strength?

I think my biggest strength is being able to adapt because throughout the season, and throughout my four years of high school swimming, we’ve encountered a lot of challenges and problems. We’ve just had to adapt to them. Last year, our coaches were very strict about wearing a mask and protecting ourselves against covid. I feel like it messed up my training a little bit. Usually, we’ll do a dry-land workout, where we lift weights and do stuff like that, but last year we weren’t able to do (that). I felt like that didn’t really benefit me. We stayed healthy, we were able to adapt and we ended up doing pretty well at WPIALs and states.

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

One thing people may not know about me is that I’m a pretty big fan of The Kid LAROI. I like to listen to his music a lot. That’s what gets me going before big meets.

Tags: Franklin Regional