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Kalynne Pressler is a swimmer on the rise for the Grangers. The LaGrange High sophomore made waves at state earlier this month, earning an 11th-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke competition at the GHSA state tournament.

“All last season, I was really close to the cut, and then I couldn’t get it so when I got it this season it was a big relief,” Pressler said. “Then it was just over 1:03 at state, which was

big for me.

“It is my PR,” she added. 

The environment at Georgia Tech was unlike anything she had experienced previously. With swimmers, fans, coaches and more packed wall-to-wall, Pressler was thankful for her teammates who made the trip to cheer her on.

“There was a little bit of pressure, but thankfully all my teammates were there and they would talk to me and cheer me on which made it a lot better than me just waiting and thinking about it,” Pressler said. 

With such fine margins, Presler missed out on the top 10 by just over half a second. Pressler left the water satisfied with her performance. Now, she is aiming to improve on it next season.

“I definitely want to finish in the top 10 and make more cuts for state,” she said. “I really want to make the 500-yard freestyle cut too.”

While she is more than capable of doing short-distance races, Pressler specializes in long-distance swimming. 

“A lot of it is trial and error and finding out what you’re good at when you’re young,” Pressler said. 

Pressler has grown up in the water. However, the sophomore went through a big culture shock when she moved to LaGrange from Indiana. The swimming cultures were widely divergent.

“Georgia is not a swimming state. Indiana is definitely a swimming state,” Pressler said. “A lot of the cuts are faster and a lot of the kids are faster.

“Swimming is just not really a big thing here.”

With competitive swimming struggling to find traction in Troup County in the post-COVID world, Pressler travels down to Opelika for club swimming, which shares some similarities to what she was familiar with in Indiana.

“When we moved here we were looking for club teams and there really wasn’t one,” she said. “My mom looked around and found one in Opelika and it gives me another place to swim and practice.”

Pressler will head back to Indiana over the summer, which she also did last year, as she gets to experience two swimming cultures regularly. 

While swimming is where her heart lies, she is a true multiple sport athlete. Pressler is a member of the cross country team and track and field team at LaGrange High, where she unsurprisingly specializes in long-distance running. 

There was little rest for Pressler, who essentially went from the pools right to the track for the Grangers.

“It is hard at first to go from one season to the next, but It trains a lot of the same stuff, like a lot of the same muscles and your endurance and breathing. And then I’ve got about two weeks of crossover for both, where I’m doubling up practices, which isn’t as bad as it sounds,” Pressler said.