Daily Journal Girls’ Swimmer of the Year: M-A’s Hailey Preuss

Bruce Smith, who is the head swim coach for Menlo-Atherton as well as a club coach, knows how each organization operates. Smith said in the club realm, the main emphasis is on time, with less importance put on finish.

He said in high school, the priorities change.

“In high school, it really has to do more with getting [your] hand on the wall first,” Smith said. “That’s what makes that fun. There is more of a competitive element than just the time on the clock.”

Hailey Preuss, who recently completed her junior year at M-A, is one of those swimmers who thrives in both environments. One of the top all-around swimmers in the Central Coast Section, as well as an accomplished club swimmer, Preuss got to enjoy both aspects of the swimming universe in which she posted fast times and won during the spring high school season.

This year, Preuss added the school’s 200 free and 500 free records to the 100-yard breaststroke record she set in 2024. She won PAL titles in the 200 individual medley and 100 breast before finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200 free at CCS. She then capped her high school season by setting new personal records at the CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships to earn the Daily Journal Girls’ Swimmer of the Year honor.

“Just have fun and race,” Preuss said. “Which is what I love doing.”

While her club favorites are the 200 fly and 200 breast, which are not contested at the high school level, the 500 free is her favorite high school event. For one, it’s an event in which she can give M-A the most points.

Secondly, she’s good at it and, third, it’s a way for Preuss to show off. She likes the distance events because they highlight her conditioning.

“[The 200 fly and breast], they’re not universally loved,” Preuss said. “But I love how I feel after those races. There is something very empowering to me about doing the fly at the end of the meet, knowing that I can do it and showing everyone what I can do when I’m tired.”

But Preuss is not just a distance swimmer. She started her swimming career as a sprinter, before growing into the longer events.

“I used to be a sprinter … but then my distance events started firing in eighth grade,” Preuss said. “So I’ve gone through the whole cycle of what is my focus event, which is why I do a lot of events.”

And the ability to compete in both the short and long races enabled Preuss to qualify for all 11 individual events for CCS. She swam the 50-yard freestyle once this season and, “she just barely snuck under the CCS (qualifying) mark,” Smith said.

Add in the three relays — the 200 medley, along with the 200 and 400 free – and Preuss qualified for CCS in all 14 events.

“I’ve always been a pretty well-rounded swimmer,” Preuss said. “I got them all last year (qualifying times), as well.”

Despite qualifying in every event, high school swimmers are limited to two individual events and two relays when it comes to the postseason. So while Preuss won Peninsula Athletic League titles in the 200 individual medley, where she broke a 19-year-old school record with a time of 2:03.45, and the 100 breast, she competed in the 500 free and the 200 free at the CCS championships.

“That’s always an interesting thing,” Smith said. “Going into CCS, there is always that question of what you want to swim.”

Actually, Preuss had to only choose a second individual race because the 500 free was a given.

“The 500 is the staple,” Smith said. “That’s kind of what she’s known for.”

Preuss said the second race comes down to what feels good and what is working as she enters CCS.

“The second race has changed every year,” Preuss said. “What feels good in the moment and what feels good leading up to CCS. What is firing. I have so many events at that level to choose from.”

She chose the 200 free this year because she came up just short of making the CCS final in 2024 and she wanted to make amends for that in 2025.

“My 200 free last year would have been on the cusp of being in the final. This year, I did make the final,” said Preuss, whose time of 1:50.96 was a new PR and good for fourth place.

In the 500, she posted a time of 4:55.49, another new PR and good for second place — for the third year in a row.

But the pressures of CCS did not prevent Preuss from putting her best foot forward at the state meet. She just missed out on making the “A” final in the 200 free, settling for the top seed in the “B” final, and winning her race by setting a PR of 1:50.43.

She also set a PR in the 500 f0r the second week in a row, swimming a 4:54.92 in the state meet preliminaries, just missing out on the “A” final by finishing 10th. She then swam a 4:55.87 in the “B” final, good for 13th best in the state.

“[The CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships] is the fastest high school meet in the country,” Preuss said. “This year, I was focused on both CCS and State, in terms of taper. That helped me be able to PR at state.”