Pioneer Athlete Spotlight on Paige Landstrom
Club: Dana Hills Swim Team
Age: 18
Sport: Swimming
Landstrom is well known for succeeding in both the pool and with her academics. She has been swimming competitively since she was six-years-old for several teams, including Dana Hills, Walnut Creek Aquabears and Clayton Valley Charter High. During Landstrom’s high school career she earned a place on varsity all four years and competed for the Aquabears during the offseason for two years.
During her junior and senior years, she decided to put her main focus into excelling for Dana Hills after high school season. Landstrom loves the swimming atmosphere because everyone is supportive of each other no matter what, despite competing against teammates and even best friends. Speaking of friends, Landstrom is ecstatic that she’s swimming her final season with good friend Caela Hetherton. The two college freshmen have “good swim birthdays,” meaning they’re both swim-age 18 this summer and able to swim together for the last time after missing many milestones last year due to COVID.
A large amount of the success Landstrom experienced in the sport was due to her exceptional coaches throughout the years, most notably, Serge Victor. Landstrom says that she wouldn’t be the swimmer she is today without him and that he taught her not only how to improve, but to also take swimming more seriously.
Records and awards
Landstrom holds several individual and relay records at Dana Hills, Concord City Meet and at a few other pools. The relay team of Landstrom, Kaylie Walker, Erica du-Long and Gianna du-Long broke a 25-year-old CVCHS 200-yard freestyle relay record in 2018. During Landstrom’s high school swimming career, she achieved the seventh fastest 100 backstroke time in school history.
In 2019, Landstrom was awarded the City Meet Swim Championships high-point award in 15-18 A Division. In addition, Landstrom has won the Devil Mountain Pentathlon six times in her age group including this summer. Dana Hills has awarded Landstrom the team high-point award in her age group three times. After losing her senior swim season to the pandemic, Landstrom is excited to be able to swim for Dana Hills this summer. Since this will be her last year competing, she’s hoping to achieve some personal bests, but to also have fun and cherish the last few meets she’ll be able to swim.
Landstrom is attending San Diego State University with plans to major in public health and minor in psychology. She maintained a 4.0 GPA both semesters of her first year in college and earned a place on the dean’s list. She enjoyed meeting new people at SDSU and can’t wait to hopefully have a more normal college experience next year.
CVCHS student journalist Katherine Pugh wrote this Spotlight.
The Pioneer congratulates Paige and thanks Athlete Spotlight sponsors Dr. Laura Lacey & Dr. Christopher Ruzicka who have been serving the Clayton and Concord area for 25 years at Family Vision Care Optometry. www.laceyandruzicka.com
Do you know a young athlete who should be recognized? Perhaps he or she has shown exceptional sportsmanship, remarkable improvement or great heart for the sport. Send your nomination for the Pioneer Athlete Spotlight today to sports@pioneerpublishers.com.
Katherine Pugh
Katherine Pugh is a junior at Clayton Valley Charter High School. She enjoys running on the CVCHS cross country team in the fall in addition to the track and field team in the spring. Pugh also swims recreationally for Oakhurst Country Club in the summer. She is a part of the CVCHS Engineering & Design academy and finished her sophomore year with a 4.33 GPA. She’s also excited to be a representative for CVCHS’s ASB leadership group during her junior year. In addition, Pugh works as a hostess at Ed’s Mudville Grill in Clayton. She is very excited to be writing the Student Athlete Spotlight for the Concord Clayton Pioneer.