When it comes to swimming, you usually hear swimmers such as Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, or Michael Phelps in the Olympics. For Alani Hightower, swimming is more than a sport. Hightower began swimming when she was nine years old and found the sport to help strengthen her ability to swim, stay in shape, and have fun. At 11 years old, Alani fell in love with swimming after she saw the result of the passion and hard work she put into the sport along with becoming one of the fastest 50 freestylers in the state of Indiana. “Once I saw my potential, it drove me to work harder and see what other amazing things I could do,” Hightower states. Alani instantly stood out during her high school career at North Central High School as she was a four-year varsity letter winner and team captain for the swimming team where she helped the team to four IHSAA Sectional Championships, was a four-time IHSAA State Qualifier, four-time All-MIC, and secured a school record in the 200 Medley Relay. A three-time All-Academic as well as three-time high school student of the month, Hightower also competed in Track & Field. Alani would continue her swimming career as she committed to Butler University.

In her freshman year, Hightower made a huge splash as she secured 10 different records in Butler University’s all-time Top 10 list including first in the following events: 100 Free, 100 Back, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, and 400 Medley Relay, third in the 50 Free, 100 Fly, and the 200 IM, and 10th in the 200 Back. Alani would compete in the Big East Championship Meet where she placed 7th in the 200 IM, 9th in 100 Fly, and 13th in the 100 Back. The success of her freshman year would lead Hightower to be named Big East Qualifier and Finalist along with the Team’s Freshman’s Award. Alani continued to dominate as she was a member of the school’s record-setting 200 Medley Relay team and 400 Medley Relay team that placed 5th and 6th respectively. Hightower would earn her second Big East Qualifier and Finalist title as she competed in the Big East Championship Meet with the result of placing 8th in the 100 Back, 14th in the 100 Free, and 16th in the 50 Free.  As the junior season approaches, Alani aims to continue to make history. 

As a student-athlete, Hightower expresses the challenges that go with balancing the books and sports. “Most colleges make you go to study tables during your freshman year,” Alani states. “But as you get into college and get older, you learn what works for you as I learned that being organized and creating an agenda works best for me.” From practicing and competing in swimming to succeeding in the classroom, Hightower details that writing things down day by day has helped tremendously. While initially going into college as a psychology major, Alani realized there’d be a major of study that sparked her passion and love for sports: Sports Media. “I realized being a college athlete and being an athlete all my life, I love sports and I’ve been heavily involved as a child, and it is something I’m passionate about,” Hightower states. While pursuing her degree in Sports Media, Alani found her love for fitness influencing within the social media aspect as she sees the major tie in helping get her a job in the sports field. “With my studies at college, I’ve decided to take the route of sports media, social media influencing, fitness, and personal training,” Alani confirms.

With the sport of swimming already increasing, Alani sees the young athletes already doing amazing things in the world. As of right now, Hightower describes that she doesn’t see herself swimming professionally or coaching and is content with leaving swimming when college is complete. “I do have two years left of college, so things could change!” Alani states. However, Hightower sees something bigger for her as she is more than just a swimmer. “With my studies at college, I’ve decided to take the route of sports media, social media influencing, fitness, and personal training,” Alani confirms. 

“Find the college that works for you and that you genuinely like the best!” One of the key pieces of advice that Alani expresses to the people who want to take their game to the next level along with having great time management skills and practicing eliminating procrastination. Hightower adds to the advice to make sure that both the place and the sport are something that you really want to do. “If you have doubts, don’t avoid them; confront them!,” Alani exclaims.

For Hightower, the sport of swimming has taught her so many things such as being a leader and a hardworking woman. As a role model herself, Alani has seen that taking initiative in both sports and life is key with being successful in the sport for so many years has made her realize so many people are paying attention and following in your footsteps to reach their goals. “Being a black girl and woman in the sport, I have learned many things along the way with being the only black girl on my team most of the time,” Hightower states. “There aren’t a lot of black people in the sport of swimming, so learning how to navigate when being completely different from everyone else has also been able to transfer over with me in the real world.” Facing adversities such as being excluded, alienated, and even picked on has pushed Alani to give back to her community and show little girls and boys it is okay to be different. “That gives you all the more reason to work even harder,” Hightower exclaims. 

If inspiration was described in a story, Alani’s journey would be the correct answer. Hightower shows what it means to be more than an athlete. When asked what makes her story stand out from the rest, Alani answers confidently: “I feel like it is not often you see a black woman in the sport of swimming. I’m pretty sure the percentage of black swimmers in the United States is 1% and being a swimmer of color is not easy, let alone a successful woman of color. As someone who is just trying to enjoy their sport, you deal with a lot of unnecessary issues that most swimmers don’t have to deal with because of their skin color. Dealing with team issues, coaching issues, and discrimination, it has pushed me to be the voice for our community of women who want to try sports where they don’t see many women who look like them.” Alani credits Simone Manuel for inspiring her to be the leader of her (Hightower) community. “I want people to look at me and be motivated to try something they may be scared of or uncomfortable with,” Hightower states. “So for me, this is more than a sport. This is about making a change as well as leaving a positive impact on my community.” 

To learn more about Alani and her journey, be sure to follow her on Instagram: alanihightower