Anna Kirby, 11, breaks the school record in the team meet at Northampton on Jan. 30.
Before Tuesday night the Stroudsburg High School record for the 100-meter freestyle was 54.43 seconds. The record was held by Alex Burns in 2013. Kirby beat that time by 0.46 seconds securing the record time of 53.97.
Stroudsburg student, Anna Kirby, after beating the school record at Northampton. (Georgie English)
Kirby says, “I hope to keep progressing in the future.”
Kirby has been working on this goal since her sophomore year of swimming. She has shown tremendous progress since starting, especially over this season.
Kirby was nominated for Pocono Record’s Athlete of the Week during the week of Jan. 1 to Jan. 6, 2024. She stole the first-place spot with over 56.87% of the votes among the other three nominations. She gained nearly six hundred votes alone.
After Kirby’s freshman year of swimming, she decided to dedicate herself and focus on swimming all year round. Kirby has made personal best times in all eight individual events this year.
She and Coach William Conklyn are hoping she will beat a few more school records and to also earn a spot on the podium at districts.
Along with Kirby, “The team as a whole has been showing improvements over the entire season and the coaches are excited to see what they can do in our last few meets over the next four weeks”, says Coach Conklyn.
Stroudsburg High School varsity swimmers, Elizabeth Eberz (left) and Anna Kirby (right). (Georgie English)