Scarlett Osborn, '25

Not only is Osborn there for her team in spirit, but she is a crucial swimmer herself. This past season, she left a legacy at ESA by being a part of the 400 Freestyle relay group that broke a school record. “I don’t think it’s a surprise that during her three years on the team, she’s won two state championships and one state runner up,” fellow teammate Arun Cacodcar shares.

Outside of the pool, “she has a presence really,” Cacodcar claims, “Besides hosting team activities, getting people in line, or even just getting the overall spirit up, she is there for everyone.” Her presence inspires her team. Showing up every day is difficult in any sport, but it is increasingly more so for the swim team. ESA does not have a pool. This makes it more challenging for swimmers to be able to show up to practice four times a week, since they have to train at various locations across Lafayette.

Going into this season, the swimmers who were a part of the team had concerns, mainly about the loss of several strong swimmers due to their graduating. This sent the team back to square one, in a way, and affected their morale greatly. Combined with the spread of back-to-school illnesses, more and more swimmers began to miss practice. “Scarlett was one of the people that pushed the team to show up to practice and to get healthy,” Cacodcar shares. He says that although she was suffering from respiratory illness as well, she continued to show up and “gave the same enthusiasm as if she was not sick.” 

While giving her all in the pool, Osborn also does the same in school. She is a commendable scholar, consistently earning A’s in her AP and honors classes. Also, Osborn is a major part of the ESA community, with leadership roles in several organizations, including Student Council, National Honor Society, Eco Club, and more. With her already busy swim schedule, Osborn says that there are many labors of being a student athlete, but it is the most difficult to create a balance between both. “It is difficult to accept when you cannot go to practice due to school,” she shares. 

Despite the barriers, the swim team continues to break them. Their undeniable success has caused Osborn to begin to think about what legacy she wants to leave behind. Although she understands how swimming may be a difficult sport to be a fan of, she hopes that their successes inspire the ESA community to treat swimming as more of a mainstream sport. “You can see an improvement in our times on the days people actually came to support us. It means a lot and definitely affects team morale,” Osborn claims. With these performances being already incredible, more support from the entire community would make the sky the limit for ESA Swim.