Kate Hallmark ’26 is a senior from Chevy Chase, MD, and attended Bethesda Chevy Chase. She is a long-distance swimmer, specializing in free, fly, and back. Her career bests are as follows: 100 free (53.89), 200 free (1:53.31), 500 free (4:59.61), school-record 1000 free (10:26.75), school-record 1650 free (17:17.49), 100 back (59.55), school-record 200 back (2:03.46), 50 fly (26.33), 100 fly (58.66), and 200 fly (2:07.74).
Hallmark has also amassed various awards across her three full seasons of swimming. She is a 2x CSCAA All-American (2023, 2024; 500 free), an 8x NCAA Qualifier, a 12x All-Centennial (4x First Team, 5x Second Team, 3x Honorable Mention), a CSC Academic All-District Team (2024), a Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Team (2024), a 2x Academic All-Centennial Team (2024, 2025), and a 2x Centennial Academic Honor Roll (2024, 2025). During the 2024-2025 season, she won three medals at the Centennial Championship: two silver (500 free, 1650 free) and a singular bronze (200 free) medal.
Hallmark also saw very successful sophomore and first-year seasons. During her inaugural season at Swarthmore, she swam on the school-record 400 free (3:28.37) and 800 free (7:34.92) relay; competed in the 500 free, 100 fly, 800 free relay, and 1650 free at the NCAA Championships; and took home five Centennial Championships Medals: two golds (800 free relay, 400 free relay), two silver (500 free, 1650 free), one bronze (200 free). In her sophomore year, she swam on Swarthmore’s school-record 800 free relay (7:33.95); competed in the 500 free, 200 free, 800 free relay, and 1650 free at the NCAA Championships; posted a NCAA B cut time in the 1650 free at the Centennial Conference Championships (17:18.05); and earned three Centennial Championship Medals: two golds (800 free relay, 1650 free), one silver (500 free), and one bronze (200 free).
Katie Kerman: Congratulations on your senior season and winning the 800 free relay at the Franklin & Marshall College Invite! How did that relay and meet feel?
Kate Hallmark: Thank you! The 800 free relay felt good — I think we all were happy with it and are feeling more confident about swimming it again at the end of the season. The overall meet went really well for the team, and we had a lot of fast swims from both the men and the women!
KK: What are some team and individual goals you have for this season?
KH: A major team goal we have each year is winning our conference meet at the end of the season on both the women’s and men’s side. My individual goal is to be at a point at the end of the season where I can look back at my entire swim career and feel content with what I’ve accomplished. I’ve been swimming competitively for about eighteen years, so it’s really important for me to be able to round out this chapter of my life as well as I can.
KK: How did the team prepare for this season and are you excited for any meets or traditions this season?
KH: Our team always prepares for the season by meeting our first years and getting our toes wet doing captain’s practices as a whole team. That’s one thing that’s super nice about having a few pre-season weeks at the start of the fall semester: we can take our time to get oriented and ease ourselves into the season. Like most of the team, I’m really excited for our training trip over Winter Break when we can enjoy swimming and hanging out with each other without worrying too much about school.
KK: What does a typical event day look like — are you a superstitious athlete?
KH: I try not to be a superstitious athlete — I think that would only add to the anxiety I’m already feeling leading up to a meet — but I do have a routine I generally stick to on meet day. Everyone on the team has to get up early when we have meets, so I’ll normally do some land-based, dynamic warmup to wake up. After that, I grab something to eat, maybe putter around doing assorted chores or schoolwork if I have time to spare, then head to the pool for the required team warmup. After that, I’ll swim all my races — my typical events are long-distance races and my best event is the mile — and end my day by congratulating our competitors and helping out with pool clean up.
KK: Do you have a favorite pre-event or pre-race song?
KH: I actually don’t have a favorite pre-race song and normally just listen to whatever song I’m feeling at that moment. If I need some more confidence, I’ll listen to something upbeat or motivational; if I’m nervous and my heart’s racing, I may listen to something slow and soothing for my nerves.
KK: What is your major or majors and do you have a favorite class you have taken at Swarthmore?
KH: I am double majoring in biochemistry and English. I don’t know if I have a favorite class I’ve taken at Swat, but I will say that CHEM 10 and ENGL 64C: Black protest and possibilities — a class in [English Literature Chair Associate Professor Anthony Foy’s] sequence of courses on the development of Black literature — were the classes that put me on the path of my two majors after I took them my first year.
KK: What have been some of your favorite memories across your three seasons of swimming at Swarthmore?
KH: My favorite memories each year are always, without fail, from our two end-of-season meets: Swat Invite and Conferences. The energy is always high, and I always get super emotional watching my teammates swim their final races of the season after putting in so much work. Some of my strongest memories are of watching the last races of each of the seniors each year, so I wonder how this year will be different now that I’m a senior.
KK: Finally, if you could emulate any fish while racing, which would it be and why?
KH: Ooh, this is a good question, but I don’t know if I have the requisite knowledge of fish to answer it as well as I’d like. A brief Google search has revealed that tuna are obligate ram ventilators (meaning they need to always move to force water over their gills to breathe), so as a distance swimmer, I think I’d like to emulate a tuna: a fish with high endurance and constant forward progression.
