Aurora Roghair ready to join Stanford swim team
IOWA CITY, Iowa (BVM) — Before leaving for Stanford to continue her swimming career at one of the best college programs in the nation, Aurora Roghair made sure to leave her mark on Iowa high school swimming.
“This year I really just wanted to have fun with it and enjoy the little moments,” Roghair said.
After almost losing their season to the pandemic, Roghair was just happy to be able to spend time with her teammates and have her sister on the team.
“I remember it being really fun,” Roghair said. “I remember more of the practice memories that we had and just being with my friends but it was definitely nice to get those accomplishments.”
Those accomplishments included a senior season where she dominated any and all competition. Roghair went undefeated in all swimming races as a senior and won four state titles, including two with her sister in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. All of it helped Iowa City West finish second as a team at state.
Roghair set a state record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 47.3 seconds and came close to beating the 200-yard freestyle record.
Following her success in her last season at Iowa City West, Roghair tried her luck in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200, 400 and 1,500-yard freestyle. She didn’t make it to the next round, but the experience is one she will never forget.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Roghair said. “It’s been a dream of mine for a really long time ever since I was little I think. … It was so cool racing everybody and it was pretty inspiring.”
With a dream achieved, it was a fitting way to end that part of her swimming career that began when she was just a child and first getting into swimming.
“I’ve loved swimming ever since I was little,” Roghair said. “I’ve always loved being in the water so I’ve just had a natural progression I’d say in my swimming ability.”
That progression continued and by the time she was in the sixth grade, she had found a niche in long-distance swimming. She continued with that and it led to state records and her leaving Iowa as one of the best high school long-distance swimmers in the state’s history.
“Once I got to 11 or 12, I started doing the mile and then I never really got back out of it,” Roghair said. “It was definitely one of my better events for awhile.”
Roghair continued improving in the pool, and when colleges could start to recruit her after her sophomore year, they did. For Roghair, it was both a blessing and a bit of a curse as she tried to decide where she would attend college.
“That was pretty rewarding and cool,” Roghair said. “Then it got kind of stressful trying to figure out where I wanted to go and like finding that perfect fit but it was a lot of fun.”
Being unable to visit schools due to the pandemic made it harder but as the Roghair went through the process, Stanford began to rise above the rest.
“Once I started talking to Stanford, I got pretty excited about going there, but I had a lot of other schools I was still looking into and a lot of other visits I wanted to do,” Roghair said. “It was a pretty hard decision, but once I started talking to Stanford more and I met the team, it felt like the right decision.”
Roghair committed and on National Signing Day signed her letter of intent outside of her house with her family and coach there to celebrate. It wasn’t in a gym, but that didn’t matter to her. It was a big milestone.
“That was really exciting,” Roghair said. “It was just fun knowing all my hard work paid off and knowing that’s just the beginning of the journey.”
The journey will now take her to California where Roghair is just as excited about the education she will receive at Stanford as she is about the level of swimming she will compete at. Her journey may just be beginning, but she is already off to a great start.
