While the venues have changed, the success Isabel McGovern has sustained in the pool has not.

It has taken little time for the sophomore transfer swimmer from DIII Dickinson College to find her stride and find a home at American University, in and out of the pool.

The Lexington, Mass., native was a prodigious swimmer for Dickinson in Pennsylvania. She wrote her name in the school’s record book with times in the 100 and 200 fly, and was named to the All-Centennial Conference Team after wins at the Centennial Conference Championships in those events.

While she had and still has love for Dickinson and the friends she made there, midway through her freshman year, she began to consider alternatives that would allow her to challenge herself and grow as a person, athlete, and student. Following the decision to seek out another program, McGovern spoke in length with American head coach Garland Bartlett and with members of the team. While considering the resources available athletically, academically and socially, the transfer destination became clear.

“American is in a bigger city, it’s a bigger school, and there’s different types of people, which I really enjoy,” she said. “I’m able to really compete with people, both at meets and in practice.”

The slate of training at Division I American was admittedly tough at first for McGovern as the intensity ratcheted up from what she experienced the year prior at Division III Dickinson. However, the increased regularity and length of practices as well as adding more weight training than before has been a welcome change after a freshman year in which McGovern felt “weak in the water,” despite the success she earned.

“I got into it, but at first I was like, ‘I hate this, I’m so sore all the time.’ But the training—I transitioned pretty quickly,” said McGovern.

“It was tough because at Dickinson I would go into a meet and be like, ‘I don’t really have to try, it’s fine.’ But here, I have to put everything into every single race, which has made me a better swimmer in the end. But, it was hard to get used to.”

While the challenges became steeper, McGovern was able to buy in more as the competition also energized her competitive spirit. It has been about gaining a better sense of where she is and can be while competing against others. It has also been simply the supportiveness she has felt from her team and been able to give back in turn. Even a loss in a practice does little to faze her drive, but rather inspires her push to do more.

The success she has accomplished goes beyond sheer athleticism, and is the result of a continuous drive and a mentality to get better. She acknowledges that a collegiate career is finite and it’s a humble privilege to get to pursue this passion.

With the increased intensity and a more technique-focused regimen, McGovern has already exceeded her own expectations for where she thought she could be in certain events.

Since September, when American hosted UMBC, McGovern has consistently pushed not only her own personal records, but has etched her name in the Eagles’ top-16 all-time record marks several times over. Finding the podium and outright wins multiple times, she has set top 16 personal records in the 100 and 200 fly, 200 IM and 200 free while also helping set program benchmarks as a part of 200 free relay teams.

“For my butterfly, I always thought I was going to stay in the range I was in last year. Last year, I didn’t think I was going to drop a lot of time; I thought it would be very close,” she said. “And then I swam the 200 butterfly at our invite meet, and I dropped two seconds.

“I looked at it after and was like, ‘No way!’ I was trying to go sub 2:04, which I did and was very happy with. I wouldn’t say I am out of the ballpark of what I thought I could do, but I surprised myself a lot in November at our mid-season meet.”

That success and adaptation to the rigors of competing at the Division I level have not slowed as the year has progressed.

McGovern was named a Patriot League Swimmer of the Week Honorable Mention twice in January. The first those honors came on the heels of her efforts against VMI where she posted two individual wins in the 100 and 200 fly and helped win two relays in the 200 free and 200 medley, while her second honorable mention recognition came after a 200 free relay win and two first-place finishes in the 200 free and 200 IM against Old Dominion.

To be at this point, however, goes well beyond McGovern’s original athletic goals of more modest proportions.

Swimming has helped to shape a portion of her identity, inside and outside of the pool, but it is not all that defines her. Her overall goals focused more on adapting to the Division I level and to a team that is nearly double the size of her previous one, and were more concentrated on settling into the routine of a student-athlete and emphasizing the importance she and the program place on academic success.

“My parents raised me that way and I grew up in a very academically competitive town. So, I’m used to the rigorous academics,” she said. “My goal for this year was to get used to being a student-athlete at a DI school, and then if I swim fast, that’s great. And I’ve been happy with how I’ve been swimming. So, I have time goals, personal goals and placement goals. One of my big goals this year was to make B finals at our conference meet. Those are the goals I’m set on for now.”

McGovern and American will travel to Navy for the four-day long Patriot League Championships beginning on Feb. 21. For her long-term goals, this is still just the beginning.