by Tiffany Razzano
The Rockville Centre native recently returned from Irvine, Calif., where she competed in the USA Swimming Junior National and National Championships in early August.
At the nationals, Skelos, the captain of the South Side swim team last year, competed in the 200-meter backstroke, and swam an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2 minutes, 15.65 seconds in the preliminaries. She qualified for the finals, in which she finished eighth. In the junior nationals she won the event and finished fourth in the 100-meter backstroke. Skelos is currently ranked 15th in the U.S. and 66th in the world in the 200-meter event.
Skelos, who took to swimming immediately as a child, has been a member of the Long Island Aquatic Club team, which trains at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in Eisenhower Park, since she was 6. Her parents- Peter and Faith, who are both swimmers and lifeguards, figured their daughter would be a natural. "My mom had me in the water when I was 2 months old," Daphne said. "She said I always loved the water."
In the wake of her performance at the nationals, she is being considered for one of USA Swimming's national and international teams. She said she will likely be invited to compete in the World University Games, which will be held in Thailand.
Though Skelos, the niece of State Senator Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), has been competing in the junior nationals since her sophomore year, this was her first shot at the senior nationals. "I'm surprised by how well I did," she said. "There were a lot of Olympians there, and it was really exciting." Now she is eyeing her own shot at the Olympics, and she will have nearly two years to prepare for the 2008 Olympic Trials.
"I'd like to place [in the trials] - that would be cool," Skelos said. "It's really difficult, but I have two more years to train."
She's no stranger to swimming accolades, having been an All-American in the 100-meter backstroke, the 200 individual medley and the 100-meter butterfly. She was also named an Academic All-American while at South Side. Skelos was recruited by Penn State University's swim team, and was awarded a partial scholarship. She plans to major in bio-behavioral health and is keeping her career options open.
