Sophie Griffis chases sub-minute backstroke
Strawberry Crest senior Sophie Griffis aims for a 1:00 100 backstroke at regionals to secure a state berth after setting seven personal bests in St. Petersburg.
By Tomas Rahman ·
Sophie Griffis has a specific numerical target etched into her training schedule for the upcoming regional meet: 59.99 seconds. The senior at Strawberry Crest High School intends to break the one-minute barrier in the 100-yard backstroke. Achieving that time is the requirement for advancement to the state level of competition.
Griffis has entered the season with momentum from her spring performance. During the Area 3 Championship meet in St. Petersburg in Spring 2026, she recorded personal bests in seven of her eight races. She described that weekend as a monumental period because she finally dropped time across multiple events. In swimming, she noted, dropping just one second constitutes a huge accomplishment.
Her training regimen is rigorous. Griffis practices six or seven days a week during the high school season. Three of those days involve double sessions. She swims in the morning from 5:15 to 6:45 before school and again in the afternoon from 4:00 to 6:30. She believes that spending more time in the water than other athletes is the key to improvement.
While the backstroke is her current focal point, Griffis identifies the 200-yard breaststroke as her favorite event. She only competes in that race at club swim meets because it is not offered in high school. She finds the 200-yard distance ideal because it avoids the extremes of sprint speed and long-distance endurance.
Griffis has competed since she was eight years old. She started swimming after trying various sports as an only child and found success in the pool. She also swims year-round for the Blue Wave swim team. She plans to continue swimming after high school, either on a collegiate team or with a club team at her college.
She recently competed in a district-level meet and hopes to improve her times further at regionals. Beyond her personal performance, she aims to become a more confident leader both in and out of the water. She does not imagine her life without swimming and intends to keep competing for as long as possible.
Source: Plant City Observer
