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Wednesday, July 16 |
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Olympic Bound? By Mike Haubrich SchoolSports.com | |||||||||
Orange County is a hotbed for quality swimmers, some of whom harbor dreams of qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team. Canyon High (Anaheim, Calif.) sophomore Erin Volcan has the talent to someday achieve Olympic glory, but her dream is a little different than others'.
"There is an 'A' standard and a 'B' standard for qualifying," explains Volcan. "The 'A' standard is much higher, and Venezuela may be opting for the 'A' cut. I?m way off that." Volcan has two meets in the next few weeks to try to make the standard. If she can, she'll be heading Down Under. But according to Canyon head swim coach Steve Anderson, it's still a long shot. "[Erin] is not top-eight in the world right now, so maybe Venezuela is saying, 'If you're not top-eight, we're not going to send you,"' says Anderson.
"She set two league records, in the fly (100) and the 50-yard freestyle, and those weren't even events she was swimming at CIF," says Anderson, who has coached at Canyon for 23 years. "She was pretty quick there at league. "Erin is the best swimmer we've ever had," he adds. "She seems to be continuing to improve and has an incredible feeling for the water." Volcan, who has lived in the United States her entire life, began swimming competitively when she was 5. Her father was born in Venezuela, which allows her to hold citizenship in both countries. The high school sophomore also competes with the AquaZots, a club team out of the University of California at Irvine. But despite all of the international meets and high-level club competitions, Volcan still thinks there's something special about competing for Canyon. "In high school meets, there's more team spirit, more enthusiasm," says Volcan, who could be one of the front-runners to qualify for the U.S. swim team in 2004, when she's in her sophomore year in college. But for now, Canyon can look forward to two more years of Volcan. Anderson, for one, thinks she'll only get better. "Just from last year to this year, she's had some dramatic improvements," he says. "She's just an incredible swimmer." And despite her aspirations to join the Venezuelan women's swim team, she's also just another athlete on the talented Canyon squad. "She's just one of the kids on the team," says Anderson. "The only time you know how fast she is, is when she gets in the water."
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