NATCHEZ — Mallory Claire Dickey’s name is already popping up in the record books, and she is just a freshman in high school.

The Cathedral swimmer recently competed in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools state swim meet where she took home first place in the 50-meter breaststroke and the 100-meter individual medley.

Not only did she win those races, though, she set a state record in the breaststroke and also won both races by more than four seconds.

“I’m happy that I got it,” Dickey said of breaking the record. “That was my goal going into the meet. When it happened, I was happy, and I was happy that our team did really well at the meet overall.”

Dickey’s time in the breaststroke, 33.6 seconds, was something she had been working toward and knew she had potentially achieved as she dove into the water.

“During the race I felt comfortable,” she said. “I was hoping and wasn’t totally confident, but when I saw the time on the board when I came in, it was really exciting. It didn’t take me long to realize.”

The moment had been a long time coming for Dickey, who has been in a pool nearly her whole life.

“When I was little and started swimming lessons, I just fell in love with it,” she said. “I’ve been swimming competitively since I was 6. I joined a team when I was 8, swam unattached for 18 months and then joined Sunkist in Jackson where I am now.”

Despite already having a state championship and being a state-record holder, the journey is far from over for Dickey.

“I have goals set, and once I reach those, I’ll just set higher goals,” she said. “As of right now, swimming in college is my big goal. Once I get there, it will be great, but I know I have a lot of work to get there. It will be awesome to swim at a D1 school, though.”