MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — Piper Enge won six individual state titles at Mercer Island High School and helped the Islanders win consecutive team titles.
Now Enge has his sights set on Paris.
Enge, 17, is one of the top high school swimmers in the country, and her specialty is the 100-meter breaststroke.
“You have to time your slide really well,” Enge says, “make sure your hands are in the right position at every stage of the stroke, keep in mind where your feet are going and how many strokes away you are from the wall. It's almost like a mental race.”
With only the top two swimmers from each event qualifying to make the U.S. team, the mental competition begins long before the swimmers even enter the pool.
“In the trials it all comes down to who wants it most,” Enge said. “Some people were throwing up before the race, some were throwing up after the race. I saw people in the preparation room looking pale with stress.”
But thanks to his coach, Enge is in a good spot.
“I know a lot of athletes lose their love for the sport because of their coach,” Enge says, “but for me it was the opposite; Abi helped me find my love for the sport.”
Abi Liu, head coach of the Bellevue club swim team, has won two national titles in China and a silver medal at the Asian Games, and she is now one of the top coaches in the United States.
“Piper is receptive to anything,” Liu says. “Piper trusts and believes. Piper is very receptive to guidance. Human nature is such that we often don't like to be told we're wrong, but Piper craves it. Tell me what I can do better. What else can I do?”
Last year, the junior national champion became the first Washington high school student to break the one-minute barrier in the 100-meter breaststroke.
In 2024, the Texas native reached the World Championship finals.
Enge is currently focused on the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, which will be held June 15-23 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I always try to tell myself, 'If they try harder, we try harder,'” Enge said. “The only way to beat them is to try harder than them.”
About 900 talented swimmers gather in Indianapolis for the trials, but only 52, both men and women, are selected for the team.
“So you have about a 6% chance of success and a 94% chance of not succeeding,” Enzi said. “But do you want to be that 6%? Or do you want to be that 94%? The choice is yours. And that choice is made every day. It comes down to the tips of your fingernails. That's why you have to put in the effort every day, because if you slack off one day, the other person might try harder, and that might beat you.”
Enge is not the only Northwestern athlete competing in the qualifiers, as her Bellevue club swim team teammates Alexa McDevitt, Sophia Sanwood and Cecelia Howard also qualified.
Also competing in the trials will be Stanford-bound Ella Jablonski, University of Tennessee-bound Ben Bricka, University of Louisville-bound Camden Doane and Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club's Haley Weiler.
