Ryan BAILEY

Ryan BAILEY

Boardman swimming/Diving

He’s set records individually, but what Boardman’s Ryan Bailey enjoys the most about swimming is the thrill of being around his teammates.

“I love being on the team with my guys,” he said. “It’s a lot more fun on relays when it’s coming down to the wire.”

It’s that excitement of competition that fuels his passion, too. Without it, Bailey wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

“The competitiveness of swimming is what really gets me,” he said. “I’m a pretty competitive person when it comes to just about everything.”

As a junior, Bailey made a repeat trip to the state swim meet and finished third in the 100-yard butterfly and eighth in the 100 breaststroke with times of 49.92 and 58.81, respectively. He owns school records in both events — both improvements over his fifth and 16th place at states in his sophomore year.

“I learned to swim it like a normal meet,” Bailey said, “to show up and go through my normal routine and go out and swim my own race.”

He began swimming at the Boardman Tennis and Swim Club when he was eight and forged a relationship with BHS coach Terry O’Halloran. In seventh grade, Bailey started to take things more seriously and realized that he was going to have a bright future in the pool.

“I have a lot more serious time than I do playtime and I’m perfectly okay with that,” he said. “That’s going to get me a lot further being the swimmer I want to be.”

With his senior year remaining, Bailey plans to stay in his events, break his own records and be a state champion. Owning a 4.0 GPA, he’d like to swim in college and major in biomedical engineering before going to medical school. And, if time allows...

“I’d like to be a coach. Passing on my knowledge would be a lot of fun for me,” he says.