Get to know Downingtown East swimmer Alexa Fulton
EXTON, Pa. — Eighteen-year-old Alexa Fulton is one of our area’s most accomplished student-athletes. In 2023, this Downingtown East High School Swim and Dive Team member won her third straight two gold medals at the PIAA 3A State Championship Meet in the girls 50 free and 100 free. In the 50 free, while in the midst of hard training for her end of the short course season for nationals (held in early April 2023), she swam a 22.68, just .02 short of her PIAA record-setting 22.66 she posted at last year’s States.
Alexa swims club at the Upper Main Line YMCA and typically places in elite meets, including the YMCA Long and Short Course National Championships and several national USA Swimming championship meets. Notable was her appearance at the 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville in January. She earned a spot in the A finals of the 50 free after preliminaries and swam in the same heat as Olympians, Abbey Wetzell, Simone Manuel, Erika Brown among other impressive record holders.
In 2021, Alexa achieved a qualifying cut in 50 free, earning her a spot at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials that June, in Omaha, Nebraska. Traditionally held every four years, the Olympic Trials is the largest and most esteemed competitive swimming event in the United States. It is sure to say Alexa is one of the fastest swimmers in our nation.
Alexa is a fierce competitor, but off the block and out of the pool, she is unassuming, youthful, and usually smiles. She started swimming at the age of seven when her family became members at Whitford Country Club in Exton. Alexa decided to participate in their swim team program and had a fun experience. Many of her close friends were into swimming on a competitive level and she decided to join the winter team at the Lionville YMCA. Alexa made this sport her focus by middle school and switched to a more competitive program at the Upper Main Line YMCA.
Since then, Alexa has had many meets and accomplishments to look back on with appreciation and pride, but her biggest achievement is when she made her cut to swim at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. “When I was growing up and you made wishes on your birthday, my wish was always to make it to the Olympic Trials. So it was a goal of mine going into (this) meet. I was super nervous and after, all my friends and coaches ran over and hugged me. To have this dream come true meant everything.”
Alexa plans to enjoy the remainder of the time she has left as a high school swimmer with her UMLY swim teammates and as a senior attending the University of Scholars (part of the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School) for gifted students. She will be a University of Texas Longhorn for her collegiate academic and swim career after she felt a good fit with the coaches and other athletes. Her goals include making the NCAAs and returning to the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2024.
If you ask Alexa what she loves most about swimming, her response includes racing and competition, but most of all, she enjoys her friendships. “I met my best friends through swimming. That is what I would tell younger swimmers who want to do well. Try to enjoy it. Often, it is hard and not always super fun, so find moments and find people you love to do (the sport) with. Find time in practice to talk and laugh with friends. It makes it all worth it and when you do well, you do not think about how hard it was. Instead, you think about how much you accomplished.”
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