The Wheaton Co-op will have two representatives compete at the United States Olympic Trials this summer. The event will take place from June 29th through July 6th at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The meet will be televised on the USA Network and NBC. The top two finishers in each individual event will represent the United States in the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.
The Wheaton Co-op has two of the total fifteen swimmers in Illinois who have qualified for the meet, which makes them one of the biggest teams in Illinois. Typically, less then 90 swimmers qualify in each event from the entire country. Only 31 Illinois swimmers have qualified for the Olympic trials since the United States’ first modern games participation in 1896.
Swimmers Taylor Zafir and Will Shaffer will be competing against world record holders and Olympic gold medallists, such as Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff, Natalie Coughlin and Brendan Hansen.
Zafir is currently a senior at Wheaton Warrenville South and will attend Rutgers University on a full scholarship this fall. Zafir has qualified for more events then any other swimmer in Illinois. This summer she will be competing for a spot on the USA Olympic Team in the 400 individual medley, 100 breaststroke, and 200 breaststroke competitions.
Schaffer is a former state swimming champion at Wheaton Warrenville South High School and is now a junior at Princeton University. He helped lead his team to a second place finish at the spring conference championship. Schaffer has qualified and will compete for a spot on the USA Olympic Team in the 200 individual medley event.
The 29 th Olympic Games swimming event will be held at the National Aquatics Center in the Olympic Green from August 9-24, 2008. |
