Most days, there’s no place Laura Stephenson would rather be than the pool, but that wasn’t always so.

“When I was a kid, I didn’t even like getting my head wet much less going underwater,” Stephenson said. “My mom signed me up for swim lessons and she figured I’d get over it.”

She did. The Fenwick senior’s love of the sport has translated into success. She’ll make her fourth consecutive trip to the Division II state swimming and diving championships today. She will compete in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-freestyle events.

Stephenson has also qualified to state in the 200 and 500 freestyle events in other years. Her best state finish was 11th in the 100 butterfly last year.

“You can’t get to this level of swimming and not have your heart into it,” she said. “Hopefully, this year, I’ll make the top eight. It’s my last hurrah.”

Stephenson will have company in Canton. She and teammates Jenni Rossi, Lynnie Liberti and Lily Dallmer also qualified to state in the 200 freestyle relay. Preliminaries for all D-II events were held on Thursday with the finals today.

While it’s Rossi’s first trip to state, the junior is a state-tested athlete. She played on the Falcons state championship soccer team last fall and placed fifth last year at state track and field in the shot put.

“I was actually very surprised to qualify to state in swimming,” Rossi said. “I got back into swimming to give my body a break and get ready for track.”

Rossi, 17, swam competitively until she was in the sixth grade when she decided to focus on basketball. After a grueling season as the Falcons goalkeeper, she decided to get pack into the pool.

“Swimming gives me a good workout without a lot of stress on my body,” she said. “I actually surprised myself by how well I did.”

Division I: Middletown sophomore Mark Andrew is also bound for C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.

He qualified to the boys D-I meet in both the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle events. D-I preliminaries are today and the finals Saturday.