Sophomore swimmer Maile Sullivan poses with lifeguard equipment on Seaside Park Beach in New Jersey this summer. Sullivan said she officially became a certified lifeguard at 16 years old. Photo courtesy of Maile Sullivan
Maile Sullivan, Pepperdine Women’s Swim and Dive sophomore swimmer, has spent most of her life making a splash — but not always in the pool.
After growing up surrounded by bodies of water in Singapore, Hawaii and the East Coast, Sullivan spent years of her childhood in and around the water, from competitive swimming to lifeguarding.
“Maile is a gamer,” said Dan Marella, Pepperdine Women’s Swim and Dive head coach. “She loves to anchor relays, she loves to be in the middle of the pool in the big final and she loves to perform for her teammates. She has the quiet confidence that is required to be an elite sprinter in our sport.”
From the Beginning
Sullivan’s relationship with water dates back longer than she can remember.
Born in Hong Kong, Sullivan moved to Singapore at 1 year old. With family spread across the East Coast and Hawaii, she was raised around oceans, beaches and pools.
“My family is from the New York-New Jersey area and then we go to Hawaii a lot because I have a lot of family that live there,” Sullivan said. “So Singapore, and the East Coast and then Hawaii — everywhere was kind of surrounded by water and that’s kind of how I got into swimming.”
Sullivan began competitive swimming at age 6, but it was not the only sport she dedicated herself to.
For 12 years, Sullivan participated in ballet and carried many of her learned skills into swimming.
“One correlation is definitely the dedication it takes to do both,” Sullivan said. “I would say the dedication and then the team aspects — like, although both are very independent and individual, but you’re training for both ballet and swimming with a team and with a group. So, the environment that you are in and the people you’re around play a large impact in both.”
As swimming became more competitive, it eventually became Sullivan’s main priority with her sights set on competing at the collegiate level.
Attending high school in Singapore, Sullivan said she attended as many swim camps as she could throughout the summers because it was harder to make connections with U.S. colleges from thousands of miles away.
The summer before her junior year of high school, she found her way to Pepperdine.
“I ended up at a swim camp at Pepperdine and I really loved it,” Sullivan said. “I loved the location, I got to meet the coaches and they were great. And then ever since that camp, I kind of just stayed in contact with them.”
Sullivan holds in backstroke start position in her swim lane during a 2025 match at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. Prior to swimming at Pepperdine, Sullivan said she had never swum in short-course yards. Photo courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics
Going With the Flow
Sullivan arrived in Malibu with years of competitive swimming experience, but American collegiate swimming still surprised her with an unfamiliar change.
Outside of the United States, Sullivan had never competed in short-course yards — the format most commonly used in American swimming.
“Coming to swim in college, I was really nervous and I didn’t really know where I stood on the team time wise,” Sullivan said. “I had never really raced yards before because everywhere outside of the U.S., you race short course meters and long course meters, and the U.S. is the only place that you do short-course yards.”
Unsure of her standing on the team, Sullivan said she redirected her focus on improving each day, trusting the team and coaching staff alongside her.
“I really think that’s when trusting the process really played a big impact and trusting my coaches, trusting the people around me,” Sullivan said. “I just wanted to get better.”
This was an approach that quickly paid off as Sullivan marked her name in the Pepperdine record books. She set a program record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.88 and helped set program records in the 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle and 400 medley relays, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Sullivan also became the program’s third fastest performer in the 50 freestyle and earned MPSF Female Athlete of the Week honors Jan. 21, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“I worked hard and even when those records happened — the individual one, I had no idea that it had happened,” Sullivan said. “I remember touching the wall and I looked over and my coach, he was going crazy on the side. I had no idea until after I got out of the pool.”
Marella said Sullivan’s transition to collegiate swimming came in “growing pains,” but her attitude helped her adjust to a new training environment compared to in Singapore. This set her apart from other swimmers he had coached in the past.
“We do a bit more volume, more intensity and more racing,” Marella said. “She blossomed under this new training style for a number of reasons but the biggest being her attitude. It’s hard for me to remember a day where she complained about anything.”
For Sullivan, taking the pressure off allowed her to pour more of herself into the journey ahead rather than focusing on the end result.
“Taking the pressure off of myself helped a lot because growing up I put a lot of pressure on myself of getting this certain time or doing this certain thing,” Sullivan said. “Just the training has been really beneficial because it is very personalized to each individual person.”
More Than a Swimmer
Sophomore swimmer Ava Taylor first met Sullivan during her campus visit to Pepperdine and the interaction influenced Taylor’s decision to attend.
“When I was thinking about choosing Pepperdine, obviously the people were a really important part of my decision,” Taylor said. “I always think about the quote, ‘the people make the place,’ and that is something that’s definitely Maile.”
Since then, Taylor said Sullivan has become one of the most supportive people in her life.
“Maile has just made me step up as a person a lot this year,” Taylor said. “She’s a very confident person and she really spreads that, whether that’s at meets or literally anything in school or outside of swimming.”
When Sullivan is not racing, she puts her own competitive spirit aside and makes an effort to be her teammates’ biggest cheerleader.
“She always shows up at meets, not only for herself but also for her teammates,” Taylor said. “Most importantly, she’s always on the deck cheering and she’s just that teammate that you can go to when you need advice on something — whether that’s in the pool or outside.”
Whether she is racing or watching from the deck, Sullivan remains present for her teammates as a way to give back the same support she said she had received from them.
“She is always there to support a teammate after a bad swim and the first to congratulate her teammates after big successes,” Marella said.
Lifeguard on Duty
Long before Sullivan cemented herself in Pepperdine’s record books, she taught others about swim safety and practicing mock rescues.
Sullivan has spent the past four summers working as a beach lifeguard at Seaside Park on the Jersey Shore, a location that has been a part of her summers since she was a child.
Sullivan’s mother grew up spending summers there and the family tradition continued on to Sullivan. At around 7 years old, she joined a junior lifeguard program.
“I was the youngest age you could possibly do it, or maybe even a little younger, because swimming helped a lot with that,” Sullivan said. “Because I was so confident in the water, I was able to join junior lifeguards a little bit early.”
Sullivan said she continued the program until she was around 14, before becoming a certified lifeguard at 16.
“I remember being probably like 7 or 8 years old, I was like, ‘I’m going to be a lifeguard one day,’” Sullivan said. “So as soon as I turned 16, I became a lifeguard.”
Sullivan performs a mock rescue at Seaside Park Beach in New Jersey this summer. Sullivan said her confidence in competitive swimming and comfort being in the water have helped her with lifeguarding and vice versa. Photo courtesy of Maile Sullivan
Sullivan’s experiences as a swimmer have helped her in lifeguarding, but she said the two go hand in hand. In both, she has learned to trust the people beside her.
“Relying or having confidence in people around you is also really important because lifeguarding, it’s two people on a stand usually, so you have to really trust the person that you’re with and also your whole beach patrol as well,” Sullivan said. “Similar to swimming as well, you’re trusting your team — you’re relying on them to help you become better as well.”
Lifeguarding has also unlocked another body of water for Sullivan to put her swimming skills into competitive play.
Sullivan said Seaside Park would participate in lifeguard tournaments, competing against nearby beaches in boat relays, swim relays, paddle relays and medley relays.
“Growing up swimming has really helped me with that because I have just been a very competitive person through that,” Sullivan said. “And then that correlates to lifeguarding during the tournaments as well.”
Sullivan (right) sits with a fellow lifeguard atop a lifeguard tower at Seaside Park Beach in New Jersey this summer. Sullivan said partnering with other lifeguards taught her to trust her beach patrol, something she also practices in the pool as a Wave. Photo courtesy of Maile Sullivan
The Next Lap
Taylor said Sullivan’s passion for water safety is something she takes pride in, even away from her lifeguard tower.
“Obviously she has so many skills in the water but she also wants to spread the word about water safety,” Taylor said. “She’s grown up doing that her whole life, it’s something she loves. She lives in Jersey over the summer, so I think that’s always been a really important part of her life and just something she’s really passionate about doing.”
As important as Sullivan is to the team, the team means just as much to Sullivan. She said the culture around her has challenged her to become a better athlete.
“The environment is super impactful as well because everyone’s really there for each other and wants each and every single person to do their best for themselves, but then also for the team as a whole,” Sullivan said.
As Sullivan enters her second season as a Wave, she said she wants to continue using the resources around her to improve and create the best possible support system for her teammates during the remainder of her collegiate career.
Whether she is swimming in a relay, cheering from the deck or working on the Jersey Shore, Sullivan said she wants to become the best version of herself in every part of her life.
“Trying to succeed in every aspect when it comes to swimming, when it comes to academics and then when it comes to just every area in between, whether that’s socially or the work field,” Sullivan said. “Just trying to see what Pepperdine has to offer because it can offer so much and using those resources around me to try and see what I can do with my life.”
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Contact Madison Chavez via email: madison.chavez@pepperdine.edu