The Day's All-Area Swimmer of the Year: Waterford's Asia Langley

December 25, 2014 11:00 pm • Last Updated: December 25, 2014 10:21 pm

By By CHUCK BANNING Day Sports Editor

Waterford High School senior Asia Langley, the Class S champion in the 50-yard freestyle, was named The Day's 2014 All-Area Swimmer of the Year. Langley was Swimmer of the Meet at the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship for the third straight season and holds five out of nine individual school records.

A list of school and pool records occupies a large chunk of space on a wall behind the starting platforms inside Waterford High School's swimming pool.

You can't miss the Lancers' own version of the "big board."

It certainly caught Asia Langley's eye when she walked into the facility for the first time as a freshman in 2011.

"I remembered thinking," Langley said, "I want to put up as many (records) as I can."

Mission accomplished.

When Langley, now a thoughtful, mature senior finished her career last month, her name could be found on just about every line of the big board. She is a member of all three school record-setting relay teams and holds five of Waterford's nine individual school records.

And Langley, The Day's 2014 All-Area Swimmer of the Year, ended her career by winning Swimmer of the Meet honors at the Eastern Connecticut Conference Championships for the third consecutive year while earning All-ECC and Class S all-state status for the fourth consecutive year.

She was a perfect 8-for-8 in individual swims at the ECC championships during her four-year career and 6-for-8 in Class S individual state championship races, including a first (50-yard freestyle) and second (100 butterfly) this season.

She has also earned acceptance into West Point, where she will continue her career at Army next fall.

"She just did things the right way," Waterford coach Brett Arnold said.

More importantly, Langley never lost sight - and truly embraced - the team concept, even though she was clearly Waterford's best swimmer from Day 1.

"As a coach, I can admit she was being treated differently," Arnold said. "Training Asia is different than training a kid who is a first-year swimmer on the team. … But her teammates and I respected what her goals were and supported her 100 percent.

"We let her have her time, but there was never one instance where I had a girl come up to me and say, 'Why are we letting (Asia) do that?' I think they all realized the bigger picture, which speaks volumes about the type of person Asia is. They realized Asia does have a bigger purpose and they supported that."

But it worked both ways.

"I love working the girls," Langley said. "I love showing them some of the technical stuff and enjoyed helping out. I just wanted to make sure I could set things up where I could help out my teammates without shortchanging my own training.

"I had no problems juggling the two. I had great teammates all four years, but this was one of my favorite teams because being a captain was awesome. I'm thankful for their cooperation."

Langley will enjoy the rest of her senior year while preparing for the next challenge at Army.

"She's going to challenge herself to get better every day and I truly believe she will rise to that challenge," Arnold said. "I can't wait for next year when I can take a group of the girls up to West Point to watch her swim. We're all super-excited."

Langley, meanwhile, will continue to glance at the big board from time-to-time, but her perspective has changed.

"When I was younger I wanted to set records and I wanted them to last forever," she said. "Now that I've matured a little bit, I can't wait to see who breaks them … who's going to be the next big thing."

c.banning@theday.com

Twitter: @chuckbanning1

Asia Langley, a Waterford senior, will swim next season for Army, while attending the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Langley never lost an individual race at the ECC level, going 8-for-8 with three Swimmer of the Meet honors. She is a six-time state champion.