Feb 3, 2004

Local teen to swim at U.S. Nationals in Florida

Bellarmine junior Eric Lynch qualified for the U.S. swimming nationals this month in Orlando, Fla. Lynch lives in Willow Glen with his parents. He is a graduate of River Glen School.

The 4.0 grade point student, who is bilingual in Spanish, recently went to a meet in San Diego hoping to qualify for nationals, but missed the qualifying time in the 1500 free style (or mile) by 0.24 seconds. At a meet in Seattle during the last weekend in January, he swam the 1,000 free style race in 9:24.83, three seconds faster than the qualifying time. He also qualified for the mile with a time of 15:47.35.

Lynch has been swimming for eight years. He began in Salem, Mass. Upon moving to California, he joined Santa Clara Swim Club where he has practiced ever since. A hard worker, Lynch also is focused on winning. He gave up playing water polo this year and practices twice a day at least five days per week. And that’s not easy. Morning practice begins at 5:30 a.m., and the athletes are in the water until 7 a.m. They’re back at the Santa Clara Swim Center at 3:30 p.m. for another two hours at least five days a week. Saturday practice goes from 7- to 9:30 a.m. and sometimes is followed by a two-hour practice in the afternoon.

“Eric works very hard. He hardly ever misses practice,” said James Lynch, Eric’s father.