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Often waking up at 3:30 a.m. in order to train with her swimming coach in Roanoke, recent Rockbridge County High School graduate Ali Pfaff has found even bigger dreams than the state titles she won in high school.
Less than two months after graduating, Pfaff qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, achieving the qualifying time when she won the 100-meter backstroke at the Virginia State Swimming Senior Champs meet on July 15 in Lynchburg.
Competing at the Liberty University Natatorium in her final meet for the Virginia Gators, a Roanoke-based club team, Pfaff finished the backstroke race in 1:01.26 to beat the qualifying standard for the Olympic Trials, 1:01.89.
Pfaff, who found herself crying as soon as she realized this accomplishment, said that qualifying for the Olympic Trials was one of the goals she and her coach for the Virginia Gators, Morgan Richter, talked about at the beginning of the summer. “He and I both agree that the Olympic Trials qualifying times were definitely on the table and that the 100-meter backstroke would be the best bet for me, as I was only 0.4 seconds off the cut in the previous season,” said Pfaff. “From then on, he developed practices that helped fine-tune the details of the 100-meter backstroke race.”
Having tough competition also helped her qualify, Pfaff said, with runner-up Caroline Bentz and third-place swimmer Lexi Stephens pushing her to go faster. “Both of them had the Olympic Trials cut coming into the meet, so I knew if I could stick with them in the race, then I would have a decent shot,” said Pfaff, who will continue her swimming career at the Division I level at Duke University.
“I was very hopeful that I would obtain one of these cuts before heading to Duke, so I was ecstatic about qualifying in my final club swimming meet,” said Pfaff. “It was extra meaningful because so many friends that I have swam against for years from other clubs were at this meet. It was a good way to go out.”
Richter has coached Pfaff for about six years, first working with her in 2018. From 2019-2021, Richter was the head swimming coach at RC.
Pfaff has been swimming competitively year-round for 14 years, swimming with the Rockbridge Storm swimming team, coached by Richter and Leslie Ayers, the former RC coach.
Richter said that, when he started to work with Pfaff in 2018, they both “instantly benefited from the amazing stroke foundations taught to Ali by Leslie Ayers.”
Pfaff acknowledged that Ayers “was very influential in my early years of swimming.” In addition to setting the foundation, Pfaff said Ayers “taught me how to be efficient in the water at an early age.”
From Pfaff’s early morning workouts to training on her own, Richter said that Pfaff “has consistently demonstrated that she took her training seriously, and never once did I have to worry about Ali skipping a set or a practice.”
“Outside of her hard work, Ali exemplifies what every teammate should strive to be,” added Richter. “Whether it is cheering on her teammates during their events to engaging in week-long games of tag with my 8-and-under group, Ali is a perfect example to other swimmers that one can be fast and genuinely nice as well.”
Ayers, who is the aquatics director at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center, said she was “pleased and excited for Ali. Her exceptional talent is matched by her hard work. She is truly an incredible athlete and lovely human being.”
At the Rockbridge Aquatics Center and the Lexington Municipal Pool, Ayers sees Pfaff regularly working with young children on their swimming. “She has a magic touch with children,” said Ayers. “We are all proud to have Ali represent our community.”
Although the 100-meter backstroke was the highlight of the four-day Virginia State Swimming Senior Champs meet, which went from July 13-16. Pfaff also had personal-record times in the 200-meter backstroke and the 100meter freestyle. She won the 200meter backstroke in 2:13.7, just 0.11 seconds shy of the Olympic Trials qualifying cut, and placed third in the 100-meter freestyle in 56.78 seconds.
In the 50-meter freestyle, Pfaff placed second in 26.69 seconds, four-tenths of a second shy of the Olympic Trials qualifying cut. She also had a strong showing in the 100-meter butterfly, placing eighth in 1:04.02.
In addition to her high placings, Pfaff was the runner-up in the high-point competition for women at the meet.
Pfaff isn’t the first local swimmer to make it to the U.S. Olympic Trials, but she is the youngest. William Copeland, a 2003 RC graduate who was inducted into the school’s inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame Class last fall, competed in the Olympic Trials in 2008, 2012 and 2016, when he narrowly missed making the team.
The U.S. Olympic Trials are scheduled to take place next year in Indianapolis, Ind., from June 1523. Pfaff and other swimmers will compete for a spot in the Summer Olympics, which will take place from late July to mid-August next year.
Concludes Club Career
During her high school career, Pfaff worked with several different coaches. For her freshman and sophomore years, Richter was her head coach. Elle Boyd, a 2022 Washington and Lee University graduate, was the head coach for Pfaff’s junior year, with Erica Bisaillon serving as an assistant coach. Bisaillon then became the head coach last year for Pfaff’s senior year.
Bisaillon, a 2015 RC graduate who swam for the Wildcats and has coached the Rockbridge Storm youth club team since 2015, reflected on Pfaff’s career. “I’ve known Ali for a very long time, and her dedication to the sport has always inspired other,” said Bisaillon. “She isn’t afraid to work hard and swims the most difficult practices with a smile on her face. Her energy in the pool is infectious and brings the team together.”
“She’s driven, setting and exceeding goals that many others wouldn’t dream of,” added Bisaillon. “I’m so very proud of the work she’s put in to get this far and cannot wait to cheer her on as she excels in the future.”
While at RC, Pfaff became the first female swimmer in school history to win a state title. In total, she won four individual state titles. As a junior, she claimed state titles in the 100-yard freestyle and the 50-yard freestyle, setting a Class 3 state meet record. As a senior, Pfaff defended her 100-yard freestyle state title and also won the 100-yard backstroke, setting Class 3 state meet records in both events.
Reflecting on her club and high school swimming career as she prepares to head to Duke, Pfaff said, “I cannot even put into words how swimming – whether it be Gators, Storm, or high school – has impacted my life. It is surreal to me that this club swimming chapter in my life is coming to an end after 14 incredible years. I am really going to miss all the friendships I have made in Virginia swimming, but I am looking forward to the new incredible opportunities that Duke holds for me next year.”
Pfaff is the daughter of Dave Pfaff and Julie Woodzicka, and she said Woodzicka and Coach Richter have been “the most influential people in my swim career thus far. Without my mom, I would never have even started swimming in the first place, and I definitely would not have stuck with it for this long. She has been my coach when there was no one there to coach me, she has driven me to Roanoke and back for practices countless times, and she never fails to tell me that my body can do anything my mind tells it to do.”
Richter coached Pfaff on the Rockbridge Storm and on the Virginia Gators. “He knows my swimming better than anyone else and never fails to make me laugh and cheer me up,” said Pfaff. “I owe him a ton of my success in the pool.”
Woodzicka, who coached Pfaff early on in her career with the Rockbridge Storm and Virginia Gators, said she was feeling nostalgic looking back over Pfaff’s club career. “I was privileged enough to be one of her coaches early on … It was cool being able to be on deck with her in the early days and then to watch her progress as I coached younger swimmers once she was too good for me to coach.”
Pleased with the guidance Pfaff has gotten from her coaches, Woodzicka said, “Coach Leslie [Ayers] set the foundation. In the early years, Ali might not have always been the fastest kid in the pool, but her strokes were always the best and most efficient. Coach Morgan [Richter] came on the scene when Ali was about 13, and he really figured out how to motivate Ali and created sets that really got her working in practice. Morgan had a knack for creating killer practices but making them so fun that Ali would look forward to them.”
The Next Step
As Pfaff prepares for Duke, she has several goals in mind. As a freshman, she plans to focus on “having fun and just doing my best, both in and out of the pool. I think it will be beneficial to go into this year with an open mind, just trying to make the most of things.”
In the pool, with hopes of qualifying for the Olympic Trials in three other events, Pfaff said she would love to make it to the NCAA Championships in an individual event at some point during her collegiate career.
As a student, she is unsure what she will be studying, but she’s looking at psychology and political science.
Richter said Pfaff will be missed by the Virginia Gators and area swimming fans, but he has high hopes for her future. “It will be weird not having her at practice in the upcoming season, but I have no doubt that she is going to take the ACC by storm,” he said.
