NORTHAMPTON — Amalia Guerra is a perfectionist. She won’t stop working until she feels she has honed her craft. And even when the day comes where the Northampton girls swimming senior feels like she’s accomplished perfection, she’ll continue to find something to improve on.

That much became clear after the 2024 Central/West Swimming Championships at Springfield College last February, when Guerra turned in a time of 58.70 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke to claim first place in the region. She followed that up a weekend later in Cambridge by topping that time by over a full second (57.67) to win a state championship at MIT.

Guerra was a junior when she swept the two biggest events of the season in dominant fashion. Sure, she could have gone into the offseason with the mindset that she already has what it takes to be a good swimmer at the high school level. But she wanted to be great. So she put her head down and kept grinding.

More work was to be done.

“I’m just making sure that everything I’m doing when I’m in the water is to the highest standard it can be, the best quality it can be,” Guerra said of her training habits. “And when something’s off, I focus on that in practice. I don’t want to be wasting anyone’s time by slacking off while I’m in the pool.”

The Blue Devils senior spent the summer and fall working with Northampton head coach Peter Davis, who is also the head coach of Sunrise Swim Club – where Guerra goes for workouts. It was evident to Davis that Guerra had all the intangibles that make up a talented swimmer, but if she could just iron out a few small fundamental wrinkles, a ceiling wouldn’t exist for her future success.

Guerra no longer gets in the pool and thinks “I need to swim as fast I can.” Her approach has become more calculated, and planned out. Her flip turns are cleaner, her stroke is sharper. And the more free her mind, the faster she goes.

“Thinking about specific strategies in her races, focusing on the little things and putting a lot of effort into that is where she’s improved the most,” Davis said. “She’s not just going out and training mindlessly. It’s very directed, and she’s done a great job with that.”

“I’m not just trying to race the fastest I can go, but I’m thinking about everything I need to be doing to have a perfect race,” Guerra added.

The months of preparation have paid off for her this winter. Guerra has been a force all season long for Northampton in the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley, which will be her two events for this Sunday’s Central/West Swimming Championships at Springfield College – the same stage she swam well at a year ago.

Guerra’s times throughout regular season dual meets have matched or bested a lot of boys who race in the same meet. She is seeded first in both events, and has set high expectations for herself this weekend.

Davis has a feeling his senior star is going to shine bright once again.

“She’s just so great when it counts,” Davis said. “She’s such a good individual swimmer, but beyond that, she’s probably an even better relay swimmer. She really steps it up when it matters for the team.”

Last season was Guerra’s first at the high school level, and she admitted to being nervous stepping into a new environment. But the seniors welcomed her with open arms and made the transition seamless. It also helped that Guerra began swimming at the club level at 6 years old – hoping to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Maria, who swam at the Division 1 level for the University of North Carolina.

Both of her brothers also swim competitively. Her father Claudio may never have swam in competition, but he’s made up for it in other ways.

“Our whole family is very involved in the sport,” Guerra said. “My dad is the only one who doesn’t swim, but he’s our biggest supporter and he’s at all of our meets.”

Like her mother, Guerra used her dozen years of youth swimming to earn a D1 scholarship. She will attend the University of San Diego in California to join the Toreros. Her two main events are indeed the backstroke and individual medley, but Davis is certain that if she needed to step in to do any other event, she could do it no problem.

During the club championships a few months ago, Sunrise Swim Club needed one final member of its relay team to swim the breaststroke. Guerra volunteered, and she had about a week to prepare. When the day of the race came, she performed “lights out,” according to Davis.

That’s only one example of the kind of swimmer and teammate the University of San Diego is welcoming next year.

“She’s very positive,” Davis said. “Everybody loves being around Amalia, and she brings a lot of energy to practice. And that’s a big thing, because this is a difficult sport to train in. It takes a lot. To come here every day, bring positivity, have a smile on her face and still train really hard, it comes back to leading by example as much as anything else.”

Guerra received a call from the USD swimming coach on Halloween informing her that her pre-read – which tells a coach whether or not a recruit they are after will get into their school – passed. After one visit to campus, Guerra fell in love.

She didn’t want to be anywhere else.

“The school is gorgeous, and it has everything that I was looking for,” Guerra said. “Academically and athletically, I think I can see myself improving a lot. That team had the right people and the right coaches for me. I’m really happy with my decision, and it ended up making me feel like I was OK with going that far, because I knew that it’s somewhere I feel comfortable.”

But before Guerra can soak up the San Diego sun, she has business to tend to. And she’s ready to thrive under pressure just as she did 12 months ago.

“It’s partially the pressure, to be honest,” Guerra said when asked what helps her come through in the biggest moments. “I know when the time comes, I’m able to just relax and race. It’s just kind of having a mentality that I’ve done everything I can up until that moment to be able to succeed in whatever my goals are.”