We’re all relentlessly reminded throughout our lives that nobody is perfect.

When it comes to the high school swimming state finals, however, Hanna Cowley is.

The Pioneer High School senior closed out her prep career on Nov. 20 by defending her Division 1 state titles in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races.

When she touched the wall for the final time, it was official: Cowley was 8-for-8 in individual state championship races. Perfect.

“I was very happy that I won it because it was an extremely close (100 freestyle) race at the end,” said Cowley, who finished in 50.8 seconds to edge Huron’s Annie Tamblyn by 0.23 seconds.

Cowley bobbed in the water, swelling with excitement. Not only did she complete an undefeated state career, the senior made good on a promise made to coaches Liz and Denny Hill when she started swimming for Pioneer as a sophomore.

Cowley attended Marquette High School her freshman year, winning her first two state titles there before her family uprooted from the Upper Peninsula.

“When I first came down here, I told Denny and Liz that I wanted to win all my events through my entire career for the team,” Cowley said. “I didn’t want to let them down on that.”

When Cowley first joined, Denny Hill knew his team was adding another all-state swimmer to its strong roster. Not long after, he realized something else.

“She will do almost anything to achieve her goals,” said Hill, who has coached Pioneer to 16 girls’ state titles, including a 2008 crown during Cowley’s sophomore season. “She came here as a pretty good swimmer, that was foregone conclusion. The pool is full of talented people, but being able to put the work together and expose the talent … not everybody can do it.”

Cowley made it clear that she could. And she put an exclamation point on that statement this season.

Despite Pioneer’s slight drop in the team standings to sixth place, Cowley showed no signs of slowing down in her senior campaign.

Producing first-place finishes left and right, her efforts were apparent at the elite non-team scoring MISCA meet, held at Eastern Michigan University on Oct. 23, where she swam in top times in the 100 and 200 freestyles. Cowley followed suit at the Southeastern Conference Red Division championships, winning the same events on Nov. 6 at Skyline High School.

After a two-week break, Cowley and the Pioneers were in familiar territory. The state finals.

At Oakland University, Cowley secured her flawless string.

“It was my last race and I wasn’t going to let Denny or Liz or myself down,” said Cowley, who said her final race was bittersweet. “I was happy, but I was sad at the same time, because I knew that it was my last individual race for Pioneer.”

With that comes an end to being coached by the Hills.

“They’ve helped me tremendously from the second I got down here,” said Cowley, who oh-by-the-way has also been part of six state championship relay teams.

“(From) giving me instruction on what to do and what to change, being a good teammate and how to motivate myself. They’ve always been very supportive of everything I’ve done.”

The Hills’ support Cowley’s latest decision, committing to swim for the University of Louisville next year.

“I just think that her career is just getting started,” said Denny Hill. “She’s worked hard and she really has great strokes and really could swim a lot of different events. She’s going to have fun.”

Cowley will be joined by Pioneer diver Emily Stalmack, who also committed to Louisville.

“I’m really excited that I know someone that’s going there,” admitted Cowley. “I’m really excited to be able to work hard with a new group of kids and coaching staff. The program is building and I really think in the next few years they could contend for an NCAA championship. It’d be an honor to be able to help them and be a part of it.”

After all, Cowley is no stranger to winning championships.

Kaleb Roedel is a sports writer for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734)623-2562 and e-mailed at kalebroedel@annarbor.com.