Historic career earns Penn's Lily Christianson South Bend Tribune Female Athlete of Year honor

MISHAWAKA — Coming into the 2023-24 school year, Penn High School senior Lily Christianson was one of the best girls swimmers in the state of Indiana.

Three championships at the IHSAA state finals in February gave Christianson six for her career, solidifying her case as one of the best swimmers not only in the South Bend area’s history but for the state of Indiana overall. For that reason, she has been named the 2024 South Bend Tribune Female Athlete of the Year.

“Honestly, it is awesome,” said Christianson of the honor. “It’s been amazing to represent this area. I definitely couldn’t have done it without my friends and my coaches, so being able to represent them has been awesome.”

Finishing her high school swimming career in style

Christianson’s high school career was already a decorated one coming into this season. She had won one state title in each of her first three years: the 50-yard freestyle as a freshman and sophomore, followed by the 100-yard freestyle as a junior.

Christianson faced little competition during the regular season, consistently winning in four events at each meet she competed in, including at the Northern Indiana Conference and sectional meets.

This set the stage for the state finals Feb. 9-10 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. After advancing to the championship races in prelims the Friday night, Christianson closed out her preps career with a bang that Saturday afternoon.

Christianson nearly won four titles, as the first race of the day saw her and Penn teammates Avery Woods, Annika Guenther and Alayna Riggins finish second in the 200-yard medley relay. That would be the last high school race Christianson didn’t win.

After losing her crown in the 50-yard freestyle last year, Christianson took it back with a state-record time of 21.72 seconds. An hour later, she’d reign in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.45 seconds.

Twenty minutes after that, she partnered up with Riggins, Kaia Podlin and Molly Barnes to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in an impressive 1:31.94. It was the first time Penn had ever won a relay race at the state finals.

'Perfect ending.'Penn's Lily Christianson ends high school career with 6 state swim titles

“I’m proud of my team, proud of myself for doing what I wanted and getting to where I wanted,” Christianson said. “There is also this sense of relief, too. All year, it was that pressure of going and get it … I would say, though, that Saturday on the bus ride home, it was a sense of relief of, ‘OK, I did what I had to do for this team.’ It was a peaceful kind of vibe.”

As a team, the Kingsmen finished state runner-up for the third time in program history.

“Honestly, the team success might’ve been more important to me than the individual success,” Christianson said. “I know how important this team is to everybody. We train very hard together so we can win together, and in doing that, we got state runner-up. It felt great to hang a banner in the pool room.”

Christianson’s six state titles are the most of any Penn swimmer in school history. Amongst area athletes, she only trails Elkhart Central’s Lindsey Benko, who won 11 state titles before going on to win gold medals in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

“Lily raised the bar becoming Penn’s most decorated swimmer in school history,” Kingsmen swimming coach Jess Preston said. “She always inspired all of her teammates, and that inspiration should continue long into the future.”

College is next. Then — Olympics?

Christianson’s swimming career isn’t over, as she’s headed to North Carolina State to compete for the Wolfpack in the ACC.

This summer saw Christianson swim in Indiana one more time before college, though, as she was part of the Olympic Trails held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Penn graduate competed in the 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley and 50-meter freestyle.

Although she didn’t qualify for Team USA in any of those events for next month’s Paris Olympics, Christianson hopes to use the experience to better her chances of making the 2028 Olympics team.

“I didn’t swim as well as I wanted to, but in that atmosphere, it definitely gives you the sense of, ‘This is where I want to be in four years,’” Christianson said. “It gives you that motivation to keep going. … Being there, it gives you the motivation to want to be one of the best.”