Consider the snow leopard, beautiful, mystical, and elusive. Most people have a good idea of what one looks like, yet it’s rarely seen in nature, even by those who live in its habitat. It took the photographers of the BBC 18 months to capture one on film for the great Planet Earth documentary, but when they finally did, it was the stuff of legend.
Now consider the Ivy League “Likely Letter.” Ivy League schools follow a different recruitment process than other D1 schools. The Ivies don’t offer athletic scholarships and it’s the admissions folks themselves, not the coaches, who make all the final decisions as to who gets accepted. Unfortunately for potential Ivy athletes, the Ivy admissions process isn’t completed until after National Letter of Intent week. So to encourage recruited athletes to put their other options on hold, Ivy League schools send out likely letters. The gist of these letters is basically: “We fully plan to accept you, so you can breathe a sigh of relief, although it isn’t quite official yet.”
Like the snow leopard, Ivy likely letters are talked about and coveted, but they are only seen by a rarified few students occupying the high country of both HS athletics and HS academics. So one can imagine that, after years of focus and dedication in the classroom, grit and determination in the pool, Maddie Salesky felt the same elation as the BBC snow leopard photographers when she opened her likely letter from Brown University.
“The combination of Brown University’s swim team, coaching staff, and academic curriculum was a perfect fit for me. I felt at home on the Brown campus and with the Brown swim and dive team. I’m so proud to be a baby Brown bear, and can’t wait to start my four years there next fall!”
Salesky is a two time All-American, two time scholastic All-American, and a four time individual finalist in California’s North Coast Section (NCS) High School Swimming Championships. During her freshman year, Salesky and her small school Marin Academy teammates shocked the much larger school Northern California swimming powers by winning the 200 freestyle relay and setting a then NCS record of 1:34.89. This past spring, Salesky finished fifth in the 50 free, and seventh in the 100 free.
Salesky swims year round with the Marin Pirates, where she swims for coach Warren Lager. Salesky’s top short course times are:
- 50y free – 23.36
- 100y free – 51.09
- 200y free – 1:51.89
Salesky will make an immediate impact for the Brown Bears and their new head coach Kate Kovenock. Salesky’s 100 free would have been good enough to make the B-Final at last year’s Ivy Championships, and her 50 and 200 times were fast enough to qualify for the C-Finals.
The Bears lost two sprint freestylers to graduation this past season, and with sprint star Kate Dillone set to graduate in the spring, Salesky should become a fixture on the Brown 200, 400, and 800 freestyle relays. Salesky is a great recruiting start for Coach Kovenock.
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*DISCLAIMER: Salesky has not yet been officially accepted to Brown. As is true with all Ivy League schools, Brown’s Admissions Office will not send its acceptance letter until the beginning of December, along with those of all Early Action candidates. The procedure for a recruited athlete like Salesky is for Admissions to review her transcript and SAT scores, “support (her) application for admissions in the fall,” issue a Likely Letter, then offer her acceptance into the class of 2019.