Greensburg Salem grad Madison Cassidy finds early success in pool at Saint Vincent

There are no lofty goals. Really, there never have been for Madison Cassidy when she’d be jumping into a pool of water.

She just likes to swim.

But Cassidy, a four-time WPIAL place-winner in the 100 breaststroke for Greensburg Salem, is absolutely loving the sport these days as a freshman on the Saint Vincent women’s team.

“I’ve been swimming eight-plus years,” she said. “It’s played a huge part in my life.”

As a child, she tried “almost every sport in the book, you name it,” and finally stuck with swimming at her father’s prompting. “My dad was a swimmer and suggested I give it a try and see. I started swimming at the Greensburg YMCA when I was 8 or 9, and I’ve just stuck with it.”

At Division III Saint Vincent, coach Josh Gurekovich perked up at the mention of Cassidy’s name, showering her with superlatives.

“She works really hard. She’s very driven. She’s a good teammate,” he said. “She is a good addition and gets along great with the other women on the team.

“One of the things Maddie does really well is listens and tries to attack things. She’s a great athlete to work with.”

While Cassidy medaled in each of her four high school seasons, she laughs at the notion of greatness.

“I was eighth overall my first three years, and I got sixth overall as a senior,” she said, seemingly comfortable with downplaying any accomplishments. The WPIAL recognizes the top eight times in each of its championship events as medal-winners.

Add “humble” to that list of superlatives.

“I’ve never really been recognized much for my swimming,” Cassidy said.

But now, after sweeping the breaststroke events in Saint Vincent’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference victory Dec. 4 over Washington & Jefferson, Cassidy was honored as a PAC Rookie of The Week, turning in a time of 1 minute, 15.28 seconds to win the 100 by just two-tenths of a second before dominating the 200 in 2:42.08 for a nine-second victory.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I didn’t know about it until I was coming out of practice and one of my teammates congratulated me. That was so cool.”

Cassidy, who also considered attending Division II Lock Haven, is the second Saint Vincent women’s swimmer to earn the award, joining freshman classmate Sarah Alexander, who was recognized Nov. 1.

Cassidy, a criminology major with thoughts of joining the FBI or becoming a private investigator or perhaps a police officer, is satisfied with her decision to remain close to home at Saint Vincent.

“It was a long drive to Lock Haven, and I’m not really sure I could handle being away that long,” she said. “It’s great to be able to continue living at home while going to school. It’s really the best of both worlds for me. I love Saint Vincent, and I love my team.”