Although the Bridgeport High School girls didn’t outswim their opponents at Wheeling Park High School last week, BHS Swim Team Coach Jan Grisso said the Lady Indians hold a lot of promise this season.

 

Part of that promise is Sarah Stallman, who picked up a pair of first place finishes during her debut with the Indian Swim Team. Just a freshman, Stallman won the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races with times of 27.13 and 58.57.

 

Grisso wasn’t surprised at her performance, but she had been concerned whether Stallman would even be able to participate in the Nov. 19 meet.

 

“I knew Sarah was going to be a good swimmer,” Grisso said of Stallman, whose reputation had preceded her because of her record with FAST (the Fairmont Area Swim Team). “But I knew she might not be able to swim for us this year because of health issues.”

 

That health issue was a tumor on her thyroid which was diagnosed in July and – along with nearly half of her thyroid – was removed on Oct. 5.

 

“The tumor was on my left thyroid gland and it had hurthle cell changes that could have turned into cancer,” Stallman said.  

 

Hurthle cell carcinoma cannot be detected through a needle biopsy. The only way to determine whether or not she had cancer was to take the tumor out. If it was cancerous, it was possible that it would be necessary to remove the thyroid too. Stallman didn’t want to chance having to have two surgeries.

 

“I just said I wanted it out if I didn’t know if it was cancer or not. And I wanted it done as early as possible so I could be on the BHS Swim Team.”

 

The day her physician released her to swim was the first day of BHS Swim Team practice – and Stallman was in the water.

 

“I couldn’t do butterfly because it hurt my neck, but I could do all the other strokes,” she said.

 

Competitively swimming since she was eight years old, Stallman was determined.

 

“I just love swimming and I wanted to stick with it whether I was getting any better or not. I knew if I practiced enough, when this was all over, hopefully I would be as good as I once was,” she said.

 

Stallman’s health condition has affected her swimming – and her life - since July of 2014 when she had a severe sinus infection. Eventually, she was diagnosed with the tumor which led to additional problems.

 

“I had major fatigue. I didn’t want to do anything and my immune system was very low,” Stallman said. “This time last year, I was in the hospital for a week and a half with MRSA pneumonia in my lungs.”

 

For the last year and a half, she has suffered with severe colds, the flu, fever and breathing difficulties, resulting in hospitalizations. At one time, her medical professionals suspected lupus. Stallman swam and took part in her regular conditioning routine when she could, but she was adding major time to her laps.

 

“I would get out of the pool and throw my cap down. I’d get so mad that nobody could figure out what was wrong with me and I was majorly discouraged at myself,” she said.

 

To further complicate things, the thyroid malfunction led to weight gain and loss. At one time, she gained 20 pounds, she said.

 

When Stallman was ultimately diagnosed, she was actually somewhat relieved and eager to take care of the problem. And once that was behind her, she went full force into the sport that she loves.

 

“I had a FAST meet a couple weeks ago and actually bettered almost all of my times there,” she said.

 

Those times made her eligible to compete at the University of Pittsburgh in December.

 

Karen Stallman chalks her daughter’s success up to determination.

 

“She surprised me. Through it all, she kept swimming, no matter what happened,” she said. “It was a pretty rough year and a half. She didn’t have energy, but she kept on going. She didn’t let it get the best of her. She is probably the most determined kid I ever met.”

 

Karen Zinn Stallman was also a competitive swimmer. She competed with Morgantown Aquatic Club and her stroke was butterfly. She was forced to give it up when she suffered a rotator cuff injury.

 

Despite her own love for the sport, she – along with Sarah’s dad Jason – decided not to push their daughter into swimming.

 

“She played soccer and basketball and did cheerleading one year. Then she decided she was going to swim,” Karen Stallman said.

 

Stallman remembers making that decision.

 

“One of my friends at Johnson Elementary School swam for FAST and I decided I wanted to also,” she said.

 

She began summer league when she was eight years old. By age nine, she was swimming year-round and swimming competitively with FAST. Within a year or so, she was excelling, her mother said.

 

“She got fast and she was working very hard,” she said.

 

That’s probably when it became evident that she was going to be a swimmer long-term. It was also about the time that freestyle was identified as her signature stroke.

“I swam in a meet before this big Christmas meet in Pittsburgh – and I was trying to get times to get into that meet. I had to have a certain time and I made that time on my freestyle. So I felt that freestyle was most likely my best stroke,” she said.

 

In addition to her childhood friend – McKenzie Kesler – swimmers who have inspired Stallman include her former FAST coach Kate and current FAST coaches Matt Chapman and Pat Snively. She said she has also looked up to FAST swimmer Adriana Abruzzino and BHS Swim Team members Becka Crandall and Jenna Soltesz. Last Thursday, she was on the 200-yard medley relay with Crandall and Soltesz.

 

Stallman said she has wanted to be on the Indian Swim Team since she was in the sixth grade. Her goal now?

 

“I’d like to get a scholarship to swim at a college,” she said.

 

In addition to being part of the BHS Swim Team, Stallman continues to swim for FAST, competing in cities including Pittsburgh and Athens, Ohio.

 

“She practices with the high school two days a week and practices with FAST five to six days a week,” Karen Stallman said. “Some days she does both, but she’s kept her grades up and knows how to prioritize so she’s doing really well.”

 

She also conditions three times per week; running and doing push-ups and sit-ups.

 

Stallman is very thankful for swimming.

 

“It just makes the stress of the day go away,” she said.

 

In fact, if it weren’t for swimming - and her family and friends - she couldn’t have made it through the last year, she said. 

 

Editor's Note: Stallman is shown above. In the third photo, she is seen pictured with her mother Karen.