Sakura Hegarty thinks that she was about 3 years old the first time she was introduced to swimming.
“I started swimming in Japan,” said Hegarty, who has the unique heritage bloodline of being half Japanese and half English. “I go back to Japan every summer. I started swimming with my parents and really liked it.”
Little did she know at the time that Hegarty would eventually become one of the most decorated and successful high school swimmers in Hudson County history.
“I loved swimming so much that I would race home to go swimming,” said Hegarty, who said she honed her craft training in the pool at New Jersey City University, as well as P.S. 16 in Jersey City.
In eighth grade, Hegarty joined a competitive swim club, the Stevens Sharks, based out of Hoboken. She was mostly a freestyle swimmer, but dabbled in other forms as well.
When Hegarty enrolled at McNair Academic a little more than three years ago, she was poised to join the Cougars’ swim team, but had no clue how she would shape up against the rest of the competition in Hudson County.
As it would turn out, Hegarty didn’t have any real competition.
That’s because for all four years of high school, Hegarty was undefeated in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle.
You read that right. She was undefeated for all four years, never losing once, setting new school and county records in the process.
It’s hard to determine just how many races that projects to, but it is way more than 200 times.
“I’ve counted my medals,” Hegarty said. “I have 57 medals. But there has to be more races than that.”
Let’s say way more.
“I’ve never had a better swimmer,” said McNair Academic head coach Lacey Yuan, who was better known as Lacey Martens as a high school athlete in Secaucus more than a decade ago. “We’ve had some fantastic swimmers, but to never lose a single race? It’s unheard of.”
Yuan said that Hegarty owns six McNair school records.
“And there are only 11 events,” Yuan said. “You know, I never even thought about it until a few weeks ago, when I asked her, ‘Sakura, have you ever lost?’ She just laughed. She’s had some good competition, but never lost all that time. I said, ‘Holy crap, think about that one.’ No one even came close.”
For her efforts, Hegarty has been selected as The Hudson Reporter Athlete of the Week for the past week, the final honoree for the winter scholastic sports season.
Hegarty was asked what it took to put her way above the rest of the field.
“I guess it takes a lot of effort and willpower,” Hegarty said. “But to never have lost? It’s kind of weird, I guess.”
No, it’s frankly unbelievable. Even Michael Phelps and Janet Evans have lost races during their swimming lifetimes.
“It just happened,” Hegarty said. “I’m very grateful for it.”
What makes Hegarty’s undefeated streak even more impressive is that Hegarty is not even a member of a competitive swim club any longer. She trains on her own and with her teammates — and that’s it.
Even that schedule doesn’t always work out. McNair Academic does not have its own pool, so to practice, they have to travel to nearby Ferris High School three times a week, albeit at 6 a.m. before the school day begins.
At the beginning of this season, the ceiling at Ferris’ pool collapsed, which meant that only four of the lanes were available and the Cougars had to share that pool time with the Bulldogs as well as a neighboring elementary school.
It all just makes Hegarty’s achievements more remarkable.
“When I’m racing, I am always thinking that the pain is temporary,” Hegarty said. “I never worry about the person next to me. I’m always racing against myself or the clock. During the season, I’m generally in the pool two hours a day. I’m also swimming on weekends as well. I do a lot of swimming and running on my own to stay in shape, especially if I want to swim in college.”
Hegarty is not just a solid swimmer. She’s an excellent student, who doesn’t like to talk about her achievements in the classroom, but she’s a regular A-plus student who totaled a score of 2,100 on her Scholastic Aptitude Tests.
Hegarty is considering attending Brown, Boston College, New York University or Barnard in the fall, but has not decided about her final decision.
“I am leaning toward studying business,” Hegarty said. “I might like taking international business. I can speak Japanese and I’m studying Chinese right now. I hope I get a chance to swim in college. I’m actually planning on it.”
Hegarty is also vice-president of the McNair National Honor Society and does a lot of extracurricular activity with the NHS with tutoring and community service projects.
Right now, Hegarty is planning a Teachers’ Appreciation Day at McNair, where she’s planning a special luncheon menu for the teachers of the school.
Although her season and high school careers are over, Hegarty has not stopped working. She’s been in the pool as often as possible.
“I always think there’s room for improvement,” Hegarty said. “Someday, someone will come along and break my records. Someone just might be better.”
It’s just not happening right now.
“It’s all very strange that it’s over,” Hegarty said. “It’s strange to think I’ll be off to college in the matter of 70 days.”
Is she pleased with her accomplishments?
“Yeah, I guess I’m satisfied,” Hegarty said. “I’m pretty happy.”
“Everyone will know Sakura and know of her achievements,” Yuan said. “I know I’ll be speaking about her a lot. Her accomplishments are Hall of Fame material for our school. She’s just a renaissance girl. She speaks four languages and plays about 10 musical instruments. She sings. There isn’t much she can’t do. I couldn’t ask for a better role model.”
Yuan gave Hegarty the ultimate compliment.
“It’s nice to be great and great to be nice,” Yuan said. “She’s both. She’s a great swimmer who is a nice kid.” – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.