Haven has been drinking up everything life has to offer since she was a “pretty feisty” kid, growing up with two older brothers and four sisters she likens to “four extra mamas, basically.” 

Already proficient in the pool by age 3 (“That was just always something that was really important to my dad because we had a pool in our backyard and he didn’t want his babies running around not knowing how to swim”), she started out in track before mom Shelly decided to enroll her in a swim clinic. 

“She was like, ‘It’s summer. Haven remembered. And they told me I was very good, and then I joined a YMCA group. It was three months. Then I graduated. It is reallyIt was great and I then went to USA Swim Club, where I swim all year round.”

Though she was initially hesitant at diving into such an intense program as a tween—”I was thinking, ‘You’re going to take me away from these friends and swimming three days a week?’ “Mom, are you going to take me here six days per week, and then doubles?” I mean, it was a big commitment for my family”—now, she said, “I’m very thankful that they made that choice.”