As a freshman last year, David Douglas' Ariya Abdullah didn't want to put too much pressure on herself when she stepped onto the starting blocks of the 50-yard freestyle in the 6A swimming championships.
“All I wanted to do was have fun during that race,” she said. “I was looking to win it, but I didn't really know if I had it in me to win that.”
Abdullah came through like a veteran, winning the race with a personal-best time of 23.41 seconds. It was a breakthrough not only for Abdullah, but for the David Douglas program, which hadn't had an individual champion since Laura Miller won the 100 freestyle in 2009.
“It was a really big deal,” Scots coach James Bowe said. “We come from a very diverse community, and it's really just solidified kids who are non-historically swimmers, that they can be great at it, too. It's been really good for our program, really helped our younger kids.”
Now the challenge for Abdullah is building on that success. Considering she is a three-sport athlete – she also plays soccer and competes in track – her accomplishments so far have gone against the current.
“She's a rare person in swimming,” Bowe said. “She's still swimming against kids who are swimming 12 months a year, and she's holding her own.”
Abdullah's father, Jamal, played football at Portland State, and her mother, Utica Edgecombe, was a sprinter at Portland State and competed internationally for the Bahamas. Abdullah began swimming at age 7 and started competing for the David Douglas club, Legacy Aquatics, about a year later.
Naturally gifted in the water, competitive success was just a matter of time.
“I've always been pretty athletic and fast,” she said. “I just needed to get to know the sport more.”
The 5-foot-9 Abdullah has a classic frame for swimming.
“She's got really long arms and legs,” Bowe said. “She catches a lot of water. She gets more movement through arm strokes than most people do. She's a phenomenal soccer player, but swimming is her best sport.”
In soccer, Abdullah made the Mt. Hood Conference second team as a forward last season, helping the Scots reach the 6A quarterfinals. In track, she had the No. 9 time in 6A in the 300-meter hurdles as a freshman, but a strained quadriceps kept her from competing in the Mt. Hood district meet.
She excelled at the state swim meet last year, not only winning the 50 freestyle, but placing fourth in the 100 freestyle and swimming the anchor on the runner-up 200 freestyle relay and fifth-place 400 freestyle relay.
This year, she has the added pressure of defending her title.
“Anytime you're a freshman and you go that fast, it's going to be hard to repeat,” Bowe said. “But she's such a competitor. She's going to get up and go. If someone does beat her, they're going to have to go really, really fast.”
Since state last year, Abdullah has not beaten her time in the 50 freestyle. But she had an encouraging performance Dec. 12 in the Speedo Winter Junior Championships West meet in Texas, clocking 23.63.
“My coach has been telling me that I'm better than last year,” Abdullah said. “I've done some flip-turn work. My flip turns are a lot quicker now.”
She is a threat to win the 100 freestyle this year. Of those that finished ahead of her at state, only Lincoln senior Charlotte Ducanois (second, 52.18) is eligible to return. Abdullah finished the state final in 52.89, but improved to 52.16 a week later at a club meet, which stands as her personal best.
“I'm thinking I can move forward and try to win the event,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah is a force in the sprints, but she also has shown potential in the butterfly, an event she pursued a few years ago before focusing on the freestyle. Last month, she broke a three-year-old PR in the 100 butterfly.
“I actually love racing 100 fly,” she said.
Abdullah has had to balance swim training with soccer and track commitments, but for the first time this winter, she opted not to play club soccer to focus on swimming. She said she doesn't know if she will play soccer for David Douglas as a junior.
“I'm trying to convince myself to stay off soccer, but I really do enjoy playing the sport,” she said. “I just might play again. It will depend on my swimming in the summer, to see what big meets I would make it to.”
David Douglas, which won the last of its 14 state team titles (a state record) in 1981, has a chance to earn a trophy this season with a top-four finish. All of the scorers from last year's fifth-place team are back, including both freestyle relays. Abdullah's sister, Ja'lan, a junior, was on the 200 freestyle relay last year.
jerryu@osaa.org
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