In less than a month, one of BSM’s student athletes, senior Emma Rudowsky, will be on her way to London for an international swim meet. She qualified for this meet back at the end of March with some other swimmers from her club, Aquajets. This event will round out her winter season and lead into the summer swim season.
One of Rudowsky’s best events is the 1000 freestyle. Over spring break this year, she participated in Spring Nationals and qualified for Team USA. Qualifying for Team USA could have happened in two different ways; she could have won the event or gotten in through a PowerPoint system and national standard time. “I qualified based on the PowerPoints for my 1000 free,” Rudowsky said.
One thing that is different about swimming in London is that the units of measurement change. This means that instead of swimming in yards, they swim in meters. Rudowsky mentioned that her summer season is measured in meters and that this event will be a good transition into the summer. “This meet is in meters, because we’re going abroad, [and] we’re about to get into our meters season, because for swimming, the fall and winter is yards and summer is meters. So I’m just hoping to get the best times in my meter event so that I can set a new goal going into summer nationals,” Rudowsky said.
Traveling across the world to a swimming event is new for Rudowsky, and there are quite a few things she is looking forward to. Being abroad can bring many new experiences. She is excited to meet people from all over the world and have the opportunity to compete with them. “I’m really excited to meet kids from other countries,” Rudowsky said.
Although this will be a unique experience for Rudowsky, she expressed her feelings about missing the last three days of school. The end of senior year is typically an enjoyable time for students, but she prefers to look at the bigger picture. “[It’s] really bittersweet, because the last week of school [is] so special. And I’m definitely gonna miss singing with Mr. J, but I’m really excited, because this is such a huge thing. I definitely could not pass up this opportunity, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rudowsky said.
Rudowsky is counting down the days until she leaves for London and is keeping an open mind to the whole experience since it is entirely new to her. Though she might have high expectations, she also wants to take advantage of this opportunity and make the most of it. “I just want to have fun and soak up the experience, because this is obviously so different from anything I’ve ever done. The main part of this, since we’re in our offseason, is having fun and enjoying this experience,” Rudowsky said.