HHS Swim Team Boasts Olympic Hopeful

In the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, eight-time gold medalist Michael Phelps did for swimming what Tiger Woods did for golf in the 1990s.

The sport’s popularity has boomed across the United States and competitive swimming is no longer just a summer sport for many. More and more kids now swim at the club level year round with the dream of one day launching off the blocks at the Olympic games.

One of those swimmers is Herndon High’s Jenna Van Camp. Van Camp recently competed at the Junior Nationals in Austin, TX, where she qualified for the 2012 Olympic Time Trials with a time of 1:11:66 in the 100-meter breaststroke.

“I had to read the board a couple times to make sure, and it felt surreal,” said Van Camp. “Since the second grade, my hopes and dreams have been to make the Olympic trials.”

Although the Olympic hopeful beein in competitive swimming for most of her life, Van Camp just recently began training seriously. Two years ago, the 17-year-old Herndon Hornet started swimming for Herndon Aquatic Club year round (HAC) under coach Bruce Andersen.

“I actually joined HAC when I was nine and I did a year of it, hated it and said I would never do it again,” Van Camp said. “Now I love it and kind of wish I had stuck to it then. But I guess it was good I had time for other sports when I was a kid.”

The Herndon High swim and dive team has use of the pool for only an hour or so of practice in the afternoon, so both Andersen and Hornet coach Kathy McLaughlin urged Van Camp to increase her workload with HAC. During her sophomore year she decided to add three HAC practices per week to try it out before committing to a more intense program.

“She swam in a night group that I rarely see,” Andersen said. “After that year she saw improvement and started to get excited about it and started training with me in the afternoon. She dropped a bunch of time and did stroke work."

Andersen told Jenna that she needed to add long-course work to her regiment if she wanted to eventually swim at the collegiate level. Van Camp had always dreaded waking before sunrise, but decided five morning practices were a must if she wanted to cut time and reach her goals. During her junior year she also cut out softball, basketball and volleyball to devote all of her time to swimming.

“Her mom said, ‘No way she’s going to get up and train in morning.’ So, she said Jenna had to pay for herself. And I don’t remember her missing a practice,” Andersen said. “At the end of the summer she made the Zone team, went to the Zone Championship meet and swam a great 100-breaststroke. She came back and said, ‘Hey I swam this great time and it was really exciting.’”

The following practice, Andersen put a board up showcasing the times needed to make the 2012 Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska. He showed her the 100-meter breaststroke time of 1:12:19 and said, “I expect you to swim that this year.” At the time, Van Camp’s personal best in the event was a 1:14 plus, but she felt up for the challenge.

The improvement began to show, and her coaches helped her change her stroke technique. The combination of time and conditioning paid off, and on Dec. 11 she shaved more than two-and-a-half seconds off of her personal best to qualify for the trials.

“I used to be called the ‘water bug’ because I had a really fast tempo,” Van Camp said regarding her previous breaststroke style. “It was good for the 50, but not for the 100 and definitely not the 200. It was terrible, so I slowed it down a lot. I have worked on my pull and my kick.”

The former ‘water bug’ said she specializes in coming from behind during a race as her adrenaline kicks in when she sees someone out ahead of her. Her turnover rate increases drastically to boost her ahead. Although exciting to watch, Van Camp said she would like to change that style and become a frontrunner. Andersen hopes his swimmer will make cuts for the 200-breast and either the 100-fly or 200-IM for the trials this coming spring. He said if Jenna puts in the hard work and determination she has in the 100-breast, she will accomplish the task.

“I think I would probably have a better shot at the 200 since it’s still breaststroke,” she said. “I’ve improved a lot in the IM, and Bruce always says if I focus as hard on the other strokes as I do in breast stroke, I could probably be a really good IM [swimmer].”

Andersen said Van Camp’s college coach will love working with her because she has the desire and work ethic needed to compete in college. She has committed to swim for Towson University in Maryland next year. She said she did not know much about Towson until visiting the campus earlier this year.

“I went on a recruiting trip and absolutely loved it,” she said. “The coach was great. He was really into the team and he said he coaches recruits for four years and then recruits a [new group].”

As of now, Van Camp’s daily routine consists of waking up at 4:10 a.m., swims between 3,000-4,500 yards with HAC until 6 a.m. She then heads back home and gets her little brother ready and drives him to his school. Then it's off to HHS for the day, back home to study for 15 minutes and back in the car for high school practice at 3 p.m. (twice a week). Her long day ends with dinner, studying and a bed time of 7:30 to 8 p.m.

On Mondays and Wednesdays she doubles with weights in addition to her weight training class at HHS. Every Saturday she swims for two hours and lifts weights for an hour afterward. On the day of the interview for this article she had already swum 6,950 yards (more than four miles) and finished an hour of weight training.

Van Camp realizes the workload will increase, especially with weights, once she gets to Towson. To most regular human beings, this routine might seem impossible or even crazy. But Van Camp said she understands the sacrifice necessary to reach her dream.  

Van Camp will compete in the Olympic Time Trials in the spring of 2012 in Omaha. She can also be seen with Herndon High against Oakton on Jan. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at The Spring Hill Rec Center.