nothin Hopkins Swimmer Looks Toward Olympic Trial | New Haven Independent

Hopkins Swimmer Looks Toward Olympic Trial

Three female high school swimmers in Connecticut have a chance to earn a spot on the 2016 Olympic team. Erin Earley, a student-athlete at Hopkins School and a member of the USA Swimming National Junior Team, is one of those three.

I’m extremely excited. But it’s so close and I don’t feel so prepared for it yet, but I’m just working really hard trying to get there,” said Earley.

The other two high school female candidates are Marcella Maguire of Ridgefield High School and Ky-Lee Perry of Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, according to Nan Cooper, an administrator for Connecticut Swimming Inc., the governing body for swimming in Connecticut.

Olympic Trials will be held in Omaha, Nebraska, in June. Swimmers make it to the trials by meeting certain times in their events. To get from the trials onto the Olympic team, swimmers must place in the top two of their event in Omaha.
 
Earley, 17 of Woodbridge, will compete at the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. To qualify she had to make 1:03.39 in the 100-meter backstroke and 2:02.39 in the 200-meter backstroke. She qualified last summer during Jr. Nationals in Irvine, California.

I am also close to the 400 IM [individual medley] and 800 freestyle cuts,” said Earley.

Earley said she hopes to make the time of 4:54.99 for the 400 and 8:49.99 for the 800.

Collegeswimming.com ranks Earley first out of 151 Connecticut high school swimmers in their junior year.

The top six swimmers in each event across the nation qualify for the USA Swimming National Junior Team, which accepts swimmers ages and 18 and under, according to USA Swimming. 

Being a member of the team since last summer has allowed Earley to travel to countries such as Singapore, Japan, Dubai and Qatar.

My teachers say to have fun. They give me some work and when I get back, I’ll make it up,” said Earley.

Earley has been swimming with the Hopkins Mariner Swim Team — an age group level USA swimming program — since the age of 4 with coach Bob Pimer and Chuck Elrick.

Elrick, head coach of Hopkins Mariner Swim Team and the Hopkins School swim team, has coached Earley through club swimming and into high school.

Katherine G. Krajcik Photo

Erin Earley, a junior at Hopkins, finishes her morning practice. Earley is half a year out from competing in Omaha for the Olympic Trials.

When she turned about 10, it became obvious there was something a little different, a little special,” said Elrick.

Teammate and captain Molly Seidner describes Earley as one of her best friends in swimming.

She’ll always perform the way you tell her to, tries her hardest, and gets really good results,” said Seidner.

Elrick says Earley’s attitude helps her other teammates perform better and even though she has had the opportunity to travel the world, she remains grounded.

Where many people who have made it to the U.S. team or have represented the country somewhere, they might have forgotten some of the lesser people on their team, but Erin hasn’t,” said Elrick.

Gearing up for the 2015 – 2016 Hopkins school season, Earley and her team’s biggest goal of the season would be to place in the top two at their high school championships.

Winning would be very hard, but I think we can do that,” said Earley.

This article was reported by Southern Connecticut State University students as part of a partnership between the Multimedia Journalism class and the New Haven Independent.

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