Ellie Stanley, Maryville High School swimming
BY DAVE LINK
Ellie Stanley started her swimming career as a 6-year-old at Green Meadow Country Club in Maryville.
Ten years later, Stanley is on the national stage of swimming.
Earlier this week, the Maryville High School sophomore was chosen to the 2025-26 USA Swimming National Junior Team, which will train next spring in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Stanley, 16, was chosen to the team after her last meet in July, the Junior Nationals in Irvine, Cal., which is basically the 18-under national championships. She turned 16 on Sept. 1.
“She did really well and got fourth overall in the 200 butterfly,” said Randy Stanley, her father. “She was still 15 at the time. She was the only 15-year-old to make the finals in that event. It was a pretty big deal, pretty exciting.”
USA Swimming announced its National Junior Team on Monday.
“I had actually just gotten out of practice that day, and my parents got an email saying I made it,” Stanley said. “I was just really excited, and I felt honored to make it and be a part of that.”
There are 91 swimmers (43 women, 48 men) on the roster representing 28 states and 65 clubs.
Stanley, who swims and trains with Tennessee Aquatics in Knoxville, is the only female swimmer from Tennessee on the roster.
Ellie Stanley
The National Junior Team will meet at the U.S. Olympic Training Facility next April in Colorado, train for a week, and later compete in an international meet.
“USA Swimming flies them out there for a week,” Randy Stanley said. “They do training, not just physical training. They talk about nutrition, and mental training. Their goal is to pinpoint kids that are good enough to maybe go to the Olympics some day and try to get them ready in all aspects. I think they’ll even do things like talk about how to do an interview. It’s a pretty big deal to go there for a week.”
Stanley and his wife, Alisha, got Ellie into swimming when she was a young child. Ellie’s sister, Sadie, 13, also is a swimmer. Neither parent did much swimming competitively.
Randy Stanley played football and ran track at Maryville High, where he and Alisha graduated in 1995 before they were married. Alisha was a club swimmer until about seventh grade.
“That’s how we got Ellie into summer swim,” Randy said, “and then it just kind of took off from there.”
Did it ever.
By middle school, Ellie excelled as a swimmer, and she had a breakout year as a high school freshman.
She earned all-state honors last season at Maryville High, winning two state championships (200 IM, 200 Freestyle) with a runner-up finish in the 100 butterfly at the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association state meet in February at UT’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
“Going into (the state meet), I definitely felt nervous just to do really well,” Stanley said. “Afterwards, I felt really good, and I was really excited that I did so well.”
Stanley said her best event is the butterfly, although the individual medley is a close second.
At the Junior Nationals in late July, Stanley’s time of 2:12.18 in the 200 butterfly was a personal best and qualified her for the National Junior Team.
“I felt really good and I was just determined to do really well,” Stanley said of the Junior Nationals. “I swam in the morning, and I came back in the finals and was top eight, so I knew that I could place if I did really good, and I just had a lot of motivation.”
Stanley maintains her drive for success.
Her personal coach with Tennessee Aquatics is Tim Bauer, a 30-year coaching veteran. Ellie has several meets this fall, including one this weekend at Baylor School in Chattanooga, leading to the Winter Junior Nationals in December in Indianapolis.
In February, Stanley returns for the TISCA state meet at UT, where she will attempt to defend two titles while trying for more.
And her long-term goals?
“Just keep doing really well and progressing,” she said, “and I guess one of my biggest goals is to get into a good college later on.”