Imagine, it is a season where leadership is maybe more important than ever before, where coming to the pool with a positive attitude and not a frown can help carry the team through the uncertainty high school athletes were engulfed with due to COVID-19.

And East Lyme High School swimming and diving coach Jack Stabach has senior Grace Vlaun on his side.

"She's got the attitude. The grades. She's given up a lot of time for the team," Stabach said of Vlaun. "She's always done the right thing. I'm proud of her for that. She has a way of being unselfish. Not many kids have that characteristic. Absolutely, she's a good girl. She's a really good teammate. She's a good athlete. She cares about everyone. It's not just about herself.

"She's kind of humble. She thinks before she speaks."

Vlaun was named The Day's 2020 All-Area Swimmer of the Year. She was the 2019 Eastern Connecticut Conference champion in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles and was attempting a repeat of both at this season's meet, with each of the league's teams swimming separately on Nov. 7. Vlaun swam her events, finishing first among her teammates in each before the ECC meet was canceled that day due to a COVID-related issue.

She was an ECC champion and a member of The Day's All-Area team in each of her first three seasons.

Vlaun, though, perhaps most notably, is a leader.

She serves as a leader as close to home as East Lyme High School, where she is president of the student senate, and as far away as Ireland and Hawaii, where Vlaun has attended conferences as the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) representative for Connecticut. In March she was present for the Global Alcohol Policy Conference in Dublin.

Vlaun and her sisters also help facilitate the Operation Christmas Child program at the Congregational Church of Salem, in which they collect shoe boxes filled with toys and daily essentials to send to children in developing nations.

"I think that my parents (David and Sheila) have taught me to take every opportunity that you're offered," Vlaun said. "Different experiences have opened up and been offered to me. Take up as much as you can. Take on the opportunity. For DARE, I've learned that it's important to be able to be a role model for kids that are younger than you. That's something I value, for them to see it's possible to go into high school and live a healthy life.

"I met friends throughout the world (through DARE). We all kind of go to these conferences together. It's a lot of fun. Overall, I have more confidence."

The goal of DARE, established in 1983, is to give school children the resources they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence by way of a series of police officer-led classroom lessons. Vlaun has worked closely with Connecticut State Trooper Kate Cummings, the statewide DARE coordinator, learning to present information about internet/social media safety.

How does Vlaun lead on that front at the high school level without coming across as preachy to her classmates?

"Something that I learned about leadership, being a leader it's just important to take in everyone's opinions and everyone's view points," said Vlaun, who was elected class president as a freshman and sophomore. "It's important to listen to different populations of people, make sure you're connected to the people that you're leading.

"I think that they listen to me. Maybe because I'm a teenager and someone that can relate to them. I'm close in age, so they can learn from me and understand and connect with me. With swimming, it's important to be a leader. As a leader you have to give other people a chance but you always have to try your best and work your hardest, be your best for the team."

Vlaun began swimming competitively for a club team when she was around 7 years old. When she was 12, she earned a trip to the Eastern Zone Long Course Championship in Richmond, Va.

As a freshman at East Lyme, Vlaun was a member of two relay teams which won ECC championships, the 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay. She was second in the individual 100 and 200 freestyle events. The following year, Vlaun took the 100 freestyle in 55.76 seconds, while keeping the Vikings on top in both relays.

In 2019, Vlaun increased her medal total to four, with victories in the 100 free (55.88) and 200 free (1:58.20), as well as swimming a leg of East Lyme's 200 medley relay team which set the ECC record in 1:53.07 and contributing to a win in the 200 free relay. Vlaun was second at the Class M state championship in the 200 free and helped lead both relay teams to medals, as well.

East Lyme won its 18th, 19th and 20th straight ECC team titles during Vlaun's career and last season the Vikings were third overall in Class M.

"Throughout my swimming career I've been able to reach higher levels and higher levels just from hard work," said Vlaun, who followed her sisters Vanessa and Emma in swimming at East Lyme. "Just the work and being able to try your hardest and push yourself to the limit every single practice.

She still likes to train for the butterfly sometimes, but became a freestyler out of necessity in high school. That's one of the reasons Stabach raves about her unselfishness.

Vlaun would like to swim at the club level in college, where she plans to major in molecular and cell biology with the intention of becoming a dentist. She is still deciding on a destination for college, but found out earlier this week she was accepted at Harvard.

"I applied but I really didn't tell too many people. I didn't want to tell them and not get in," Vlaun said of Harvard. "I opened (the announcment online) and there was confetti. I was like, 'Oh, my God.'

"There's more that I would like to accomplish. I'm excited to go to college next year and see what else I can do."

v.fulkerson@theday.com