La Salle-Peru co-op junior Sam Nauman is entering the IHSA state swim meet in a different position this season.

In her third trip to state, the Henry-Senachwine student is seeded to advance to the final day of competition in both of her events.

Nauman will compete in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 backstroke in the state preliminaries Friday at FMC Natatorium in Westmont.

“My favorite spot to be is more of an underdog, so it kind of adds a little bit more pressure,” Nauman said about her seeding. “But I’m OK with that. I’m still trying to stay calm and not think about it as much, and think more about my technique in the water that day. It doesn’t matter where I’m seeded. It matters how I perform Friday. I’m just mentally preparing myself to give it my all.”

Nauman swam the ninth-best sectional time in the 100 backstroke at 56.19 seconds, and came in 15th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.85.

The top eight swimmers in the preliminaries advance to Saturday’s championship finals, while the next eight swimmers will compete Saturday in the consolation finals.

“I need to have a great day on Friday,” Nauman said about the key to qualifying for Saturday. “I just need to be able to stay out of my head, stay calm and let my body do the work.”

Nauman said she’s been striving to advance to Saturday at state since her freshman year.

“The last two years, all I wanted to do was to make it back [to Saturday’s competition],” Nauman said. “So to make it back would mean a lot to me. It would give me a result for all the work I’ve been putting in. It would be really cool to make it back.”

L-P coach Rob McNally said he thinks Nauman can advance to the finals.

“She’s a higher seed than she’s ever been over the last two years, but I also know the range of time at the state meet is very slim,” McNally said. “For instance, she’s the No. 15 seed in the 200 IM, and she’s two seconds away from the top seed. I believe in my heart that she’s going to make finals. She believes it, as well, but she’s still going to have to perform at a very high level at that meet in order for it to happen.”

If Nauman advances to finals, she’d be the first girls swimmer from L-P to do so since the program started in 2015.

“It would mean an enormous amount for the program,” McNally said. “The fact Sam is doing so well is a great example for the team, and I hope it rubs off on a few more swimmers so we potentially have a few more state qualifiers next year.”

Nauman punched her ticket to state by winning both events at the Normal Community Sectional in program-record times.

“I was going into it with a mentality that I just needed to win because I knew if I thought about it too much, I’d get psyched out,” Nauman said. “I was just trying to stay calm. Once I dove in for the 200 IM, I knew I was going to be OK. I can just tell when I’m in the water how I feel. After the 200 IM, I knew the backstroke was going to be perfectly OK. I just felt like I was having a great day. Mentally, I was in the right spot. Physically, I had been rested and felt good. I was really proud of that.

“The team as a whole had an amazing sectional performance. We dropped about 28 seconds as a team, so we all had a great meet.”