CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Eight-year-old Adalynn Snow has taken to the water like a fish.

Snow first started swimming three years ago as part of the Clarion Riversharks and spent the past couple of years swimming through the Brookville YMCA while Clarion University’s Tippin Gym went through its renovation.

With the Riversharks back now that the Tippin Gym renovations are complete, according to Jesse Kelley of the Clarion YMCA, the team should return to Tippin Gym in a couple of weeks — and so is Snow.

And she is bringing a lot of hardware with her.

“The awards for her achievements began to roll in last year as a seven-year-old,” Randy Snow, her father, said.

At the Central Keystone (an area consisting of areas including Clarion, Brookville, DuBois, Clearfield, Ridgway, Lock Haven, Bellefonte, State College, Juniata Valley and Jersey Shore), Adalynn Snow won the 25-yard freestyle, the butterfly, the breaststroke and the backstroke.

“One week later, Lock Haven was hosting its own championships, the Silver Districts/Novice Champions,” Randy Snow said. “That was the last opportunity for swimmers statewide to swim a qualifying time for the District East, Central or West competition. That wasn’t really a goal, though, because the youngest age group is a 10-and-under group.”

Randy Snow said that while the youngest group was a 10-and-under group, there was no bottom age restriction for someone to qualify.

“It is just rare for even an 8-year-old swimmer to swim good enough to make districts, and Adalynn was only seven,” Randy Snow said. “So, it was completely off our radar.”

Despite knowing she was up against the odds, Adalynn Snow knew what the qualifying time in the 50-yard freestyle was and set out to make that time.

“She had seen all the hype going on about making it to districts, and she wanted to be a part of it,” Randy Snow said. “She knew she was just a second off her best 50-yard free time from qualifying.”

So Adalynn went out and swam the best race she could, but still didn’t know if she had qualified for districts.

“Lock Haven does this cool thing where they recognize the swimmers and present the awards to the swimmer as they take their position on a podium,” Randy Snow said. “She was awarded a number of first-place medals when they got announcing the results of the 50-yard freestyle they announced we have first district qualifying time of the day, Adalynn Snow. She was so happy, she really gave an effort in preparing for this opportunity. She looked at me and said ‘I’m going to districts’. This little seven-year-old powerhouse.”

Districts were actually held in Geneva, Ohio, at the SPIRE Institute.

Adalynn Snow entered that competition in March 2019 ranked 36th in the freestyle in the 10-and-under group and raced to a 20th-place finish.

“It was insane,” Randy Snow said.

After the district competition, Adalynn Snow took some time off until June when she participated in two events in Albany, N.Y., and then she swam again in July at the Keystone State Games in Wilkes-Barre.

“She won four events and had a second-place medal as well,” Randy Snow said. “She was happy with these results considering she didn’t belong to a summer swim league like her competitors and had only a week to prepare.”

After the Keystone State Games, Randy Snow decided to give Adalynn a break from swimming until the fall season got underway.

But the question still loomed — where would she swim?

“We were unsure about where we were going to swim because Clarion was having difficulty bringing the program back for a number of reasons,” Randy Snow said. “I began to look for swimming opportunities ahead of the Clarion Riversharks coming back together. I found two opportunities back-to-back hosted by Butler YMCA at Westminster College in mid-October and Blair Regional YMCA at Hollidaysburg Area High School at the end of October.

“She dominated these two swimming invitationals against some of the best Ys in the region taking first in a number of individual events and winning the overall first-last trophy at each invitational in her age group (8 and under). I’m so proud.”

Adalynn (right) with her sister, Evalynn

Adalynn Snow’s success continued at the Shark Tank Invitation in Clearfield this month where she finished first in five of six events and second in the other while winning the high-point trophy in the 8-and-under division.

Her love for swimming has also been passed down to her 5-year-old sister, Evalynn, who completes in the 6-and-under division and has already earned a third-place trophy at the Butler Invitation at Westminster.