As a freshman at Bonduel High School in the fall of 2012, Clare Martell was chosen to be a captain of the Shawano/Bonduel high school swim team.
It’s an unfamiliar position for most underclassman, but Martell took the position in stride, learning from the elder swimmers on the team.
“I was lucky enough to be able to compete with them and be on the same relays as them, so it kind of helped me improve my swimming to because I was competing with people who had already swam many years,” Martell said.
On Saturday, at the WIAA Division 1 sectional meet in Neenah, Martell will look to advance to state for the fourth-consecutive year in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her previous best finish at state was seventh place in her sophomore season. She also was part of the 200-yard medley relay team that finished 22nd that year.
The sectional Saturday will give Martell a chance to swim her fastest, something that was not necessarily needed throughout the Bay Conference season.
“It’s tough for Clare, because we swim in a conference in which she really has no competition. Our conference meet, she won with the next breaststroke time of 1:15. She got a 1:08,” Hanson said. “So when you have that difference, it’s very hard to be competitive and get those times because you have no one there.”
On Saturday, Martell will race against Bay Port sophomore Erin Samels, whose fastest time this season is 1:07.54.
Martell’s best time in the event this season is 1:08.22. Her personal best is 1:06.1, set at the WIAA Division 1 sectional in 2013.
The better competition at the sectional could push Martell closer to her personal best.
“I’m always a competitive person. When there’s someone next to me, I usually swim my better races,” Martell said. “It’s not even that I watch them; I can just sense their presence right next to me and gives me the pressure to push myself even harder.”
With her past success, Martell knows other swimmers will target her. But any outside pressure is minimal compared to to goals Martell sets for herself.
“Clare has always had high expectations of herself. Like really high expectations of herself,” Hanson said. “If anything, I think she has learned over high school … how to manage when she doesn’t get that time that she wanted during a certain point in the season and not be upset by it, but figure out what she needs to do to make that change.”
The pressure will not end after sectionals or even state. Martell verbally commited to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay last year to continue her swim career.
“Each year, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m an upperclassman now,’” Martell said. “As an (underclassman), you’re under the radar and not many people know who you are, and now I’m a senior going into sectionals and it’s a little more pressure, but it’s all good.”
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