Aquabears Cheer Olympic Hopeful Teammates

There was an odd scene Monday morning at the Walnut Creek Aquabears swim workout.

The swimmers climbed out of the pool, dripping on the deck, and huddled around a laptop. They were watching a webcast of Aquabear Jackson Miller swimming in a heat of the 400-meter freestyle in the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb.

"He was out really fast, and the kids were super excited, but the biggest cheer was when the camera zoomed in on him at the end of the race," wrote assistant coach Todd Krohn in an email. "It was really good for the rest of the team to see someone who they swim with every day at such a high level meet.

Miller, a Las Lomas High student who is also a quarterback on the football team, finished 75th in 4:01.40, 13.34 seconds behind the winner, Connor Jaeger.

On Tuesday morning, Aquabears head coach Mike Heaney, who is at the Trials,  texted when Miller and Kasey Carlson swam. Krohn said, "I kept one eye on the pool and the other on my phone. After he swam, we talked quickly about his result — and the fact that his splits were faster than (Olympic champions Michael) Phelps or (Ryan) Lochte at the 100, and even with them at the 150. That's good speed, and he went for it. That's what you want to see from a kid stepping up to that meet for the first time.

"I got to coach at the '08 Trials.  It was really exciting.  You don't realize how many really fast swimmers there are until you get there.  For the highest level athlete, it's a pressure-cooker meet.  For the younger kids, it's really exciting to be there and hopefully they see the meet as motivation to get back in four years with a chance to do something amazing.  For some more seasoned swimmers, it's their swan song - one last chance to swim at the coolest meet there is.  It's like homecoming week for USA Swimming - the media, the excitement, and a bunch of former Olympians walking around, being seen, and looking to see who makes it this time."

"I coached Greg (Harper), Shelley (Harper), Kasey, and Sara (Delay) when they were much younger.  Every season we'd set new goals for the short term, and keep an eye on those swimming dreams that are way down the line. Almost every kid who mentions the Olympics as their swimming dream.  They work with Mike now, or are off at school, but they keep in touch, and they are all excited to swim in Omaha."


Walnut Creek Aquanut Maria Koroleva is competing in the London Olympics in synchronized swimming.

Kristian Ipsen of Clayton, a DeLaSalle graduate who competes for Stanford, has made the Olympic team as a diver.