Sophomore Swims to Success
Sophomore Corina Wong’s hard work leads to States.
Sophomore Corina Wong at the school’s Fall Sports State Championship Send Off on Nov. 10. The school recognized all athletes headed to the state championships for Cross Country, Swimming, and Golf.
Take your mark. Set. Go! Is exactly what sophomore Corina Wong heard seconds before competing in the Florida State Swimming Championship this year.
Wong first began swimming when she was three years old and started competing when she was six or seven years old.
Wong’s brother, Andres Wong, has been an intrical part of her swimming journey. He swam for Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, was a state champion in 2018, and now swims for Boston College.
“Honestly my brother really inspires me and seeing him do competitive swimming introduced me to it,” Wong said. “It seemed fun so I joined it.”
She swims on both a club team called Midtown, as well as, the school swim team. Her favorite part about swimming with the school are all the friendships she’s made.
“I’ve gotten really close to the other members and they even went to my state meet,” Wong said.
Both team’s practices are difficult and work the athletes to their full potential.
“We try to help each other out and it’s a lot of fun, but we are definitely very focused,” Wong said.
She is extremely dedicated to her sport with a rigorous weekly schedule. She begins the week with an hour long early morning swim practice before school on Mondays through Wednesdays. She then follows up with a second two hour practice in the afternoons and attends a three hour long practice every Saturday. All her hard work paid off as she qualified for the Florida State Swimming Championship.
At the state championship Wong was unfortunately not feeling well, but still swam an honorable race.
“I was very nervous about it, but I’m preparing myself for next year so I can do even better.”
Her time for the 500 yard freestyle was 5:23:07 and 2:01 for the 200 yard freestyle.
She had so many supporters there at her state meet cheering her on.
“My family, the Lourdes coaches, my club coach and even some of my teammates went,” Wong said.
After states, they all went out to eat and headed back home.
Wong loves swimming and intends to continue working to reach her goals of success.
“I don’t know about a career, but I would definitely like to continue swimming throughout high school and at college,” Wong said.
Sarah Carreño is a senior and the Editor of Design and Website Management. She is a member of multiple honor societies and clubs, as well as being a Peer...
Gabriella Fernandez is currently a senior. She partakes in many clubs at OLLA and is a member of the varsity volleyball team. In her free time, she enjoys...