Samantha's older brother Chris swam four years for Peabody, set school records for the University of Massachusetts and would also qualify for the 2000 Olympic trials.

In her Freshman and Sophomore High School years, she also trained with Lexington's North Shore Swim Club, around 20 miles from her home in Peabody.

[1] [4][5] Representing Peabody High as a 16-year old Sophomore at the Girls State Swimming Championships at Smith College in February 1997, Samantha placed second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.47.

[7] Exhibiting dedication to the training demands of his daughter's elite sport, Arsenault's father Edward would drive 67 miles from Peabody to Gardner High School morning varsity practices where Samantha would attend School and afterwards train with the nearby evening practice at Greenwood Memorial Swim Club.

Carefully watching the trials, her Peabody High Coach Ken Leawood noted "There was no doubt in my mind the potential was there.

[16][17] At 18, Arsenault represented the United States at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, where she received a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, together with teammates Diana Munz, Lindsay Benko and Jenny Thompson as anchor.

[19] On November 18, 1999, Arsenault swam a 1:01.52 for the 100-meter backstroke taking a silver medal in the FINA World Cup at College Park, Maryland.

[1] As a college Freshman at the February, 2001, Big Ten Championships at the Indiana University pool, Arsenault swam a 50.9 in the 100-yard freestyle, placing third.

[24] At the Mid-February Southeastern Conference mid-February (SEC) Swimming Championship in Gainesville, Florida, Arsenault swam on the winning 200-yard medley relay team with a school record time of 1:38.21, helping Georgia to take their second straight SEC Conference Championship.

He worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and operated his business, Livingstone Speed Academy.

She received the Joel Eves award at the University of Georgia for obtaining the highest GPA for all the athletes in her graduating class, and was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America 1st Team.

In 2005 she was nominated for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship Award, which may have assisted her in obtaining her master's degree in Science Education.