Raising her head out of the water and squinting her eyes, Paige Blom, junior, realizes she just placed first at State in the 50-yard freestyle, noticing the number 1 beside her name on the scoreboard. 

“I had to relook like three times to guarantee it was next to my name, that joy just kind of carried over,” Blom said. “All my friends in the corner were just screaming.”

Blom had previously broken records at different meets before State, hitting 56 seconds in the 100-yard fly and consistently hitting the same score. 

At State Blom swam  in the 50-yard freestyle and the usual 100-yard fly. 

“It’s freestyle, so it goes by super quick, like a blink and you’re done.” Blom said. “My head is screaming like, more, more, more. More speed, more power, try harder and pull more. For longer events, you have to focus more on your breathing. I breathed two times in the finals.”

Blom prepared for her event with a high carb and protein diet, eating eggs on toast and a bagel along with little snacks. 

Blom also said technique is essential to a swim round, but when they’re so fast, she resorts to the basic swim style after she turns off the wall to begin her round. 

“For me, it’s just very fast and extending my arms to be very long and strong. It’s almost like all out, you don’t have time to think,” Blom said. 

Blom won first place with a time of 23.98 seconds.

Lauren Stein, sophomore, has been swimming with Blom since freshman year, growing closer as friends. Whenever Blom placed first, Stein couldn’t have been prouder.

“She always encourages others to work hard too, she’s always smiling and always making others happy,” Stein said. 

Stein said Blom is one of the hardest working individuals she knows, and always strives to motivate others on the team.

“She always hypes me up and encourages me even though I’m not as fast as her,” Stein said. “She makes me feel like I’m just as good or just as fast as her. She treats everyone as her equal.”

Joseph Schoedel, girls swim coach, tracks the records of his swimmers before they enter MHS. Noticing Blom’s record, he knew she’d be able to do something great.

“She has improved dramatically in the past three years. People kind of knew her name coming into high school, but she really made a name for herself through the past couple of years,” Schoedel said. “Now she’s pretty widely respected as one of the faster swimmers in Missouri.”

Schoedel said that he sat at an angle as close as he could to the pool, just in time to see Blom touch the end, 60 milliseconds of second before her Kirkwood opponent. 

Schoedel said the first thing he did was ask Blom a question when she got out of the pool. 

“You really like to cut it close don’t you,” Schoedel said.

Schoedel said Blom pushes herself to the max at every practice, sometimes having to remind her to relax. 

“I’ll even have to remind her sometimes this [practice] is supposed to be easy, rest up for the next one that is supposed to be hard,” Schoedel said.

Schoedel said Blom always has something planned to do next, and although he might give her a little break in high school swimming, Blom will continue to train for club swimming.

“She’s already right back into the pool training. She doesn’t take time off, she’s already right back to it,” Schoedel said.

This story was originally published on Marquette Messenger on February 25, 2026.