DiRado shocked by her swim times

Let’s see, in the past seven weeks Maya DiRado has shattered a North Coast Section record held by an Olympic legend, moved onto a list that includes some of the biggest names in swimming history and been wooed by the top college programs in the nation.

Given her recent track record, anything seems possible as DiRado — still just 16 — enters the U.S. National Championships, which begin Monday in Indianapolis.

DiRado, who will be a senior at Maria Carrillo this fall, has qualified in five events and is seeded eighth in the 200-meter individual medley and ninth in the 400 IM. Santa Rosa High’s Molly Hannis, who has the second-fastest time in NCS history in the 100 breastroke, is seeded 17th in that event.

The top two finishers in each event will represent the U.S. at the World Championships in Rome in August.

Her career trajectory suggests DiRado will compete at Worlds one day. But not just yet, she says.

“I would have to swim out of my mind to pull it off,” DiRado said.

As it happens, DiRado has done just that recently.

In May, she blew away the NCS record in the 200-yard IM in a time of 1 minute, 57.08 seconds, the top high school mark in California history and the fourth nationally. She broke the nine-year-old section record of 1:58.45 held by 11-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin.

For an encore a week later, she traveled to Vancouver as a member of the U.S. Junior National team and won the silver medal in the 200-meter IM at the Mel Zajac International Meet. In doing so, she lopped about four seconds off her seed time and her finish of 2:13.84 ranks 20th in U.S. history.

That places her on a list that includes Coughlin and other megastars such Katie Hoff, Amanda Beard, Summer Sanders and Tracy Caulkins.

DiRado said she expected a breakthrough performance at the NCS meet. But her swim in Vancouver? That was a shocker.

“I touched the wall and I was like ‘What?,’” DiRado said. “I didn’t see that coming at all.”

DiRado likely anticipated the phone calls she received Wednesday, July 1, the first day college coaches can contact incoming high school seniors.

DiRado has whittled her choice of college to four schools: Cal, the defending national champion; Stanford; Arizona; and Texas. At the NCAA Championships in March, Arizona finished third, Stanford was fourth and Texas finished fifth.

Stanford coach Lea Maurer visited DiRado in Santa Rosa on Wednesday and coaches from Cal, Texas and Arizona all checked in with phone calls. DiRado, whose parents are Stanford graduates, anticpates taking official visits to each school in late September and early October.

“I really like Cal and Stanford because they are such good schools,” said DiRado, who has a 4.6 GPA. “But I want to make sure I see everything — get out of California a little bit and see what else is out there.”

Like DiRado, Hannis, 17, also a member of the U.S. Junior National team, is receiving her share of attention from college coaches. Hannis’ personal-best time of 1:00.19 is the second-best in the nation this year among high schoolers.

Coaches from West Virginia and Tennessee called Hannis on Wednesday. A coach from Auburn called Thursday and invited her to come to Alabama on an official visit. Auburn has won five national titles since 2002.

Hannis enters with a time of 1:10.08 in the 100 breast, more than three seconds off the mark of top-seeded Rebecca Soni of USC, a three-time Olympic medalist.

Hannis understands her underdog status. But she also understands the proper mindset she must take to Indianapolis.

“You definitely want to be confident in yourself,” Hannis said. “You have to feel like you’re going to swim the best you can and then anything can happen.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com