It seems simple enough. The only way to swim fast is to swim fast.

But it in reality, it is much harder than that. Because one of the only ways to swim fast is through hard work.

In her young life, Molly Yacoviello of York has already experienced her share of success through a highly developed work ethic. Her propensity for hard work will also serve her well as her future unfolds.

"I think all of it depends on the work ethic," said Molly. "If I didn't push myself at practice, I wouldn't be able to go fast. My coach tells us that a lot. In practice, you just have to go fast. That should translate over into meets, and it usually does, but sometimes you just have bad meets."

A rising senior at Veritas Academy, which is located at 26 Hillcrest Ave., Leola, Molly is one of the top swimmers in her age group, in the area and in the region. But Molly doesn't compete for her school, or any school for that matter. She trains at and swims for the York YMCA club team, year-round, sometimes as much as three or four hours a day.

"It's very, very hard at practice," said Molly. "You can't be with the group I'm with and not have a good work ethic. If you don't (have a good work ethic), you'll fall behind."

"I'd say there's 11 of us, and they're very important to me," Molly continued. "With the girls, they're like my best friends. I've trained with them for a long time, and I race them every day. It's a tight-knit group. It's a really good team culture."

Backed by the support of those teammates, Molly captured a pair of first-place medals at the YMCA National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina in April. Molly was crowned the champion in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 breaststroke and finished fourth in the 200 individual medley and eighth in the 400 individual medley.

"The biggest part of the breaststroke is having a really strong pulling kick," said Molly. "But I think the reason I've gotten faster is that I've minimized my strokes per lap."

Partly through her performances at YMCA nationals and partly through her overall individual ranking on the college recruiting website Swimcloud, Molly has received Division I scholarship offers from the University of Wisconsin, the Ohio State University and Indiana University. She recently verbally committed to continue her athletic and academic careers at Wisconsin. She has yet to decide on a major.

Molly began swimming when she was 7 years old. When she was 12, she began swimming for the York YMCA Swim Club.

"At my first practice I didn't know any of the strokes and I almost quit," said Molly. "But I figured out how to do them and I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought. If I ever feel like that, I remember I wanted to quit and where I'm at now."

"My whole school year pretty much revolves around swimming," Molly continued. "But I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it."