Valley Stream swimmer competes for Olympic spot

Swimming is a great way to stay in shape and keep cool, which is why so many people love doing it. There are millions of people across the country who swim, but there aren’t many who can say they can swim with the best of the best. But one Valley Stream resident, Jack Wagner, sure can.

Wagner, a 20-year-old who attended Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, recently competed in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb. He swam in six events during the weeklong trials, including the 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyles, the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes, and the 200-meter individual medley. Wagner did not qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London, but said he did enjoy his time competing against the country’s best swimmers. The number of swimmers he competed against varied from race to race.

He is heading into his junior year at the University of Southern California where he has already received All-American honors for swimming. Wagner said that the Olympic trials, which were held from June 27 to July 2, were similar to his competitions with USC. “I go to a lot of national events so it wasn’t much different,” he said. “There was just a little bit more importance on this swimming stage.”

According to Wagner, the competition he faces at NCAA events is often tougher than in the Olympic trials. “It’s only the U.S. swimmers, where as in the NCAA’s, there are a lot of foreigners who attend schools in the U.S. and they compete with us,” he said.

While in high school, he missed the cut for the 2008 Olympic trials by .01 seconds (a 100th of a second) in the 100-meter freestyle. At the time, he said he was upset after coming so close, but shortly after the 2008 trials he qualified for the 2012 trials. To be eligible, Wagner said, a swimmer has to meet the time standard set by U.S.A. Swimming within three years of the event.

Wagner’s parents were in attendance for the trials in Omaha and he said they are very proud of his accomplishments so far in his swimming career. His mother, Patricia, used to coach a Catholic Youth Organization swim team and his two older sisters used to swim competitively. Wagner began swimming on the Our Lady of Lourdes CYO team when he was 5 years old.