PJ Foy
Juneau swimmer PJ Foy over the weekend in Seattle was the big winner at the Western Zone Senior Championships.
The 17-year-old won five of seven individual A finals, set six state records and finished the four-day meet as the top points scorer among 301 boys from a dozen states.
He was the man of the hour on Saturday night but by Sunday morning he was back in the capital city and back at the pool, where he spent his off day working at a meet that featured his sister.
It didn’t matter that he had just crushed it on the big stage, Foy made sure he got back to doing the little things in the Juneau swim community.
“They all support me, they all cheer for me, even if they aren’t there and I really appreciate it,” Foy said. “I really want to give back what they have given me. This is just one of the ways I can show it. I always say, ‘Alaska is the best state.’”
After last week’s performance at Western Zones, we can safely say Foy is the best boys swimmer in the state of Alaska right now.
PJ Foy. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Goon Gallery
Foy set six state records – two all-time marks and four in the 17-18 age group – across freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly events. He popped blistering all-time marks of 20.05 seconds in the 50 free and 43.98 in the 100 free.
He came into the Western Zone Senior Championships seeded third and fourth in most of these events but came away with five gold medals against swimmers from Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Utah, California, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho and New Mexico.
“It was really a mindset for me,” Foy said. “I was getting into the zone easily. Everything was going correctly, which really helped.
“And also my teammates really helped me, encouraging me, and watching them doing their best and also breaking personal records and team records, it really inspired me to do the best I could do.”
PJ Foy (right back row) and his team
Foy came into the meet with a personal best of 20.52 in the 50, but that was erased easily. He posted a 20.10 to win the 50 final and then went 20.05 to lead off a relay.
“Breaking 20 is a huge barrier,” Foy said. “I was super stoked (to get that close) but also kind of bummed because I didn’t make it, but that’s OK, I’ll get ‘em next time.”
In addition to claiming the freestyle events, Foy swept the 100 and 200 breaststroke races and won the 100 butterfly en route to racking up 211 points. His versatility is his strength as he strives to be elite in as many events as possible.
“I’m still growing and maturing and so I don’t have the specific body that I will when I’m older so I want to be good at everything so I can specialize later,” he said.
During the ASAA high school state meet last fall, the Thunder Mountain junior broke the state record in the 100 butterfly and won a state title in the 200 freestyle.
A month later at the USA Swimming Winter Junior Nationals West in Austin, Texas he set eight new Glacier Swim Club team records, six state records and recorded two swims on the all-time top 100 American swim lists.
#97 PJ Foy Commits to North Carolina @uncswimdive https://t.co/m0UhaW6qXh
— CollegeSwimming (@collegeswimnews) February 6, 2023
The Alaskan already committed to the University of North Carolina after having already visited the campus, toured the facilities and met the coaching staff.
“They are very invested in their swimmers,” Foy said. “Physically and mentally. They knew how their swimmers were feeling every single day. I liked their training program what they were doing. I just loved the way I fit in there. I loved the atmosphere of the campus. I loved the atmosphere of the team most of all and it just felt right when I went there.”
Outside of swimming, Foy plans to focus on computer science with hopes of one day becoming an engineer.
“I’m going to take a bunch of coding curriculums there so that after college I can get my masters and maybe go to grad school and do engineering, so when I finally get my diploma I can do robotics,” he said.