When junior Anneliese Hohm was seven years old, her parents forced her to join a year round swim team as a way to make friends and stay active. Little did she know, by the age of 16, she would be nationally ranked and be considering swimming as a career.

Hohm currently swims for the Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg (ATOM), a competitive year-round swim team that travels with swimmers nationally. Additionally, she swims for the East Meck team in the winter.

Although Hohm started swimming to make friends, with years of training, she has excelled in the water. Swimming has opened up many opportunities for her, including future college scholarships.

Hohm views swimming as more than just a sport. She wants to make sure that through her hard work she sticks to the reason she got into swimming in the first place: to make friends. Although Hohm enjoys competing, she finds her true joy for the sport through lifelong friends she has made. For instance, Katie Rauch, who is Hohm’s best friend acts as her role model.

“She is my role model, she works hard every day and inspires me to do better.” Hohm said about Katie.

The first time Hohm realized the level of her swimming ability was at Junior Nationals Qualifying, which is a qualifying meet for Junior Nationals. Hohm placed in the top eight of her qualifying heat in the morning, which qualified her for the Junior Nationals meet later that night.

“I was top eight in the morning, so I got to go swim again that night and won, so I got my junior national time standard.” Hohm said.

Hohm attributes her success to her parents who support her and drive her to and from practice daily.

“They instill confidence in me.” Hohm said.

Hohm has been able to bring her values for friendship and teammates to East since joining the team in her freshman year. She is a crucial part of the team who acts as a mentor to younger members, while competing toward the ultimate goal of a college scholarship.

“She’s really good, she’s D1 in swimming for sure.” senior Tess Kelly said.

Between ATOM and East, Hohm commits countless hours to swimming every week. She goes to practice every day in order to use swimming as a stepping stone to her success in the future.

“Swimming is more than a sport for me, I practice everyday and have made a lot of great friends.” Hohm said.

As Hohm continues with her swimming career, the sport continues to shape her as a person in and out of the pool.

“Swimming is something that I’ve been doing most of my life and I don’t want my hard work to go to waste.” Hohm said.