Holly Vilagos has been the star all year for Mooresville's swimming team.
Fittingly, she was the only Blue Devils swimmer to qualify for an individual event at the star-studded 4A West Regional. The event is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Sunday in Huntersville after being delayed a day due to weather.
Vilagos will go up against top swimmers from state 4A powers like Providence and North Meck in Mooresville's first regional event as a 4A school.
"My big focus this year has been not whether or not we get first place," Blue Devils coach Heidi Williams said. "As long as we always improve and set our own personal bests, that's all I can really focus on. As long as we improve our times, even by a couple seconds, that kind of sets the goals for next year."
It's Williams' first year in leading Mooresville, so change was all around the Blue Devils program this season.
Always at the top of the North Piedmont 3A, the Blue Devils faced a major adjustment in moving into the I-Meck 4A league.
In addition to rival Lake Norman, one of the top programs in the state, Mooresville had to contend with such powers as North Meck and Hopewell, which routinely pump out year-round swimmers.
"It was definitely more challenging with a lot tougher competition," Williams said. "Even though our record doesn't necessarily show a bunch of big wins, we had so many small victories. I really wanted to set some high standards, and I think they adapted really well. We have seven boys and four girls going to regionals, and I'm not sure some of them thought they would make it that far."
The toughest region in the state on any level, the top eight swimmers in each event of the 4A West Regional will advance to the state championship next week.
Vilagos is seeded 18th in the 100 breaststroke and 22nd in the 50 freestyle.
She also qualified in the 100 freestyle, but chose to do the shorter freestyle length instead to go along with her appearance in two relay races.
"She was pretty excited she made it in," Williams said. "We gave her the choice of picking her two individual events, and she seemed more gung-ho about the 50 free."
The Blue Devils girls team qualified for two relays while the boys will swim in all three.
Mooresville is seeded anywhere from 17th to 20th in all five relays.
"We know there is some pretty good competition, but we're not paying attention to that," said Blue Devils senior Alex Brito, who will swim in two of the boys' relays. "Our objective is to drop some time. We've been practicing really hard on those little things, like starting at the right time, flip turns and our finish. It's been a good year for us, so I hope we end it strong."
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