Not many people can say they swam at the Olympic trials. Yorktown High School student Emily Weiss can. Now, she is on her way to doing it again.
Weiss has been in competitive swimming for ten years. Last year she got the attention of the media such as the Indy Star and national swim magazines like SwimSwam magazine when she broke the Indiana high school national record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.40 seconds.
Since then, Weiss says she has continued to work hard and push herself to new levels. The only difference is she is finishing her final year of high school and is gearing toward getting ready for college.
At state February 8 and 9, Weiss swam the 100 yard breaststroke and placed first with a time of 58.9 seconds. That win made Weiss the 11th swimmer in state history to win four state championships in one event, and only the second in history to do that in the 100-yard breaststroke.
After this year, she will be moving on to the college level at Indiana University.
“It’s exciting finishing this chapter and starting a new one,” Weiss said. “I am excited for the competition, but I’m nervous for the training. I know it will kick my butt.”
Breaking the national high school record is not her only achievement in the past year. Weiss also made the cut for the Olympic trials in the 100-meter breaststroke at the National swim meet in December.
While she has accomplished all of these achievements over the past year, this chapter isn’t over yet. Weiss and Tony Santino, her Yorktown head coach. still have goals set for the end of this year.
“I want her to go a 56 in the 100 breaststroke this year,” Santino said. “It’d be nice to hold that record for a while.”
Weiss and Santino are also working together to get the national high school record in the 200-yard individual medley. Her current time is at 1:10.56, and the record is 1:07.50. She plans on achieving her goal at high school state later this month.
The duo says that they have a long plan put together with many people behind the scenes. Santino likes to put Weiss’ success on the swimmer.
“The success is from her ambition and her drive,” Santino said.
Weiss will be following in the footsteps of Lilly King when she arrives at IU, a senior this year who currently holds the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:04.13. King is also the first woman to go under 57 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke, a time that Weiss hopes to accomplish at High School State this year.
Weiss has been told that she will be Lily King’s successor, but she doesn’t like to think so.
“I don’t want to be the next Lilly King,” Weiss said. She wants to make a name for herself.
Weiss is excited for the competition that is going to come with collegiate swimming. After that, she plans on going even further and making it to the 2020 Olympics.
“I plan on not having any distractions and keeping my head down,” Weiss said, referring to how she plans on starting off her collegiate career.
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