ROLE MODEL—Before Westlake High senior swimmer Nora Darago heads off to college at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has a few more high-profile meets to compete in, including today’s Marmonte League finals at Rancho Simi Community Pool. JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers Nora Darago and her Westlake High swim teammates waited.

Students lounged around in street clothes on the Calabasas pool deck, just waiting for the meet to begin. The referee was more than 30 minutes late.

The ref showed up unannounced, and the races began shortly thereafter. The girls’ 200-yard medley relay was next, but someone had to tell Darago.

“Oh, we started?” she said casually, with less than 30 seconds to spare.

Without warming up and without a cap on her head, she borrowed a teammate’s goggles and jumped into the water.

Darago swam the breaststroke leg perfectly—although her hair engulfed her face—and helped the Warriors win the race.

Nora Darago “I was laughing so hard,” teammate Hanna Hong said. “It was hilarious. She was like, ‘Oh, I’m swimming next.’ She nailed it. Any other swimmer would have missed the race. I’ll always remember that. I’ve never seen a girl swim without her cap.”

Darago has her moments of excellence—and levity—in the pool.

The 17-year-old is a standout in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

She wants to help Westlake win back-to-back CIF-Southern Section Division 2 championships. Darago, Haley Preston, Abby Puczkowski and Savannah Miller will contend for section glory in the 200 medley relay.

The section meet is next weekend at Long Beach.

To define Darago by her athletic exploits would be missing the big picture, however.

The Warrior, who describes herself as “quirky,” is a model student-athlete.

“She’s not only a great athlete,” WHS head coach Todd Irmas said. “She’s an outstanding student. She can get it all done.

“I point out to the other swimmers, ‘Here’s the consummate student-athlete.’”

Darago is a valedictorian candidate with a 4.72 grade-point average.

She takes all Advanced Placement courses. First period is AP government/economics. That’s followed by chemistry, English, physics and calculus. She will take the AP English test this morning before scampering to Rancho Simi Community Pool for the Marmonte League finals.

“It’s multiple choice, three essays, then . . . SWIM!” she said with aplomb and enthusiasm.

After debating for weeks on the merits of attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York University, Darago finally picked MIT last Friday.

“The deadline was Saturday,” she said. “I’m so thrilled.”

Although incoming MIT students can’t declare majors, Darago wants to study earth atmospheric planetary sciences. She’s looking forward to immediately jumping into research projects with professors.

In an affirmation of her academic versatility, Darago selected a different major for each of the seven schools where she sent application forms. If she’d picked NYU, she would have studied business.

She enjoyed visiting MIT’s campus in Cambridge, which is 10 minutes outside of Boston. She laughed while describing the famed Boston Duck Tour she enjoyed from a boat on wheels, which took her from the streets of Beantown into the Charles River.

Darago also plans to swim for the Division III Engineers.

To her friends, Darago is renowned for Cookie Mondays. She bakes chocolate chip cookies most Sundays to share with her friends throughout the day on Monday.

“Because Mondays suck—and cookies don’t,” she said. “It makes Mondays a little better.”

The senior is also very active on campus.

She’s vice president of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association— which helps run the Manna food drive and Toys for Tots— and is a member of the Earth Club.

The Warrior is also involved with Students for Solar Schools, which is working on installing solar panels on a WHS golf cart shed.

“It’s meant to be more of a symbol,” Darago said. “We want the school to think green and think about the environment. We want to encourage families and businesses locally to go solar.”

The value of a good education, and a love of reading, was instilled in Darago at a young age by her parents, John and Patty.

Darago and her father made weekly visits to the Thousand Oaks Library when she was growing up.

Her older sister, Lucy, competes in triathlons at UC Santa Barbara, while younger sister Maggie, a sophomore at Westlake, is an avid dancer and singer.

Darago enjoys hiking, going to the beach and reading. There’s always a book or magazine on her nightstand at home. She’s currently rereading “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.”

In the pool, Darago enjoys 5:30 a.m. swim sessions.

“I love the tranquility of morning practices,” she said. “It’s mostly dark out and quiet so I can focus. It’s very peaceful.”

The peaceful, quirky Warrior has made a lasting impression on teammates, coaches and students.

“She’s always happy and energetic,” Hong said. “She deserves every bit of recognition she’s getting right now. I admire that she has the talent to balance schoolwork, swimming and her social life, and still be sane with everything she’s going through.”