Wednesday, December 30, 2020
From Seward, Alaska to Emerging National Talent
Lydia Jacoby could easily dwell on the challenges of becoming an elite swimmer in her home of Seward, Alaska, a seaside town of just 2,700 people. A lack of top-end facilities and a small peer group to train with and compete against certainly would top that list.
But the U.S. National Junior Team member realizes her hometown and her state have helped her become one of the top young breaststrokers in the country, one with a serious chance to compete in the final heat of the 100 breaststroke at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming.
“It’s pretty cool because growing up in Seward, you grow up with the community,” Jacoby said. “Everybody is just really supportive of what I’m doing and just supporting me and helping me make opportunities for myself. Even though we do live in such a small town where there might not be everything, the community does an amazing job of making things happen.”
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March and forced her pool to close, Jacoby’s school loaned her weights and other equipment so she could continue working out, and coaches from the Northern Lights Swim Club invited her to train when their pool reopened in May.
Jacoby has spent the past several months splitting her workouts between Northern Lights Swim Club, which trains about a two-hour drive away in Anchorage, and her home club of Seward Tsunami Swim Club, which lost access to its pool throughout November and December.
Despite the upheaval, Jacoby took drastic leaps forward in 2020.
She went a 1:07.57 seconds in her 100 breaststroke at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Open, the fastest time by an American and the second-fastest time overall in the competition. The high school junior finished behind only University of Texas freshman Anna Elendt, who represents Germany in international competitions, by just seven-hundredths of a second.
Jacoby’s time would’ve placed her fifth at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and was the second fastest ever in the 15-16 age group behind two-time Olympian Megan (Quann) Jendrick’s 1:07.05 gold medal–winning time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Jacoby also dropped five seconds in her 200 breaststroke at the U.S. Open, going 2:32.36 and finishing 13th. Her time would’ve tied her for 38th at Trials in 2016.
“I was really happy,” Jacoby said. “I think my summer training really paid off because I did a lot more aerobic and endurance training than I ever had before, so I think that gave me the edge that I needed in my 200 that I hadn’t had before. It was exciting to see that pay off.”
She achieved those times despite the limitations brought on by her home state.
Jacoby doesn’t train long course because the lone pool in the state capable of being set up for long course only is set up that way for one meet a year. Lacking regular access to a long course pool makes perfecting her stroke count for long course races challenging.
And as could be expected in a sparsely populated state, she doesn’t have a big peer group to swim with and against. Jacoby swam the fastest 100-yard breaststroke in the Alaska Swimming LSC in each of the past three seasons by at least two seconds, and is one of just 12 members of the LSC to ever qualify for Trials.
“She’s kind of the quintessential gamer,” Seward Tsunami Swim Club co-head coach Solomon D’Amico said. “She rises to the occasion. If the competition is higher, if the meet is a bigger meet, she can get herself into a really good headspace and just perform. She’s just incredible.”
Her success has made her “the greatest athlete in Seward High history,” D’Amico added, but Jacoby, a University of Texas commit, figures to have drastic room for improvement once she begins swimming collegiately.
“I don’t see a short-term limit [on her potential] at all,” Northern Lights Swim Club head coach and owner Cliff Murray said. “One thing that Alaska kids have going for them is they’re relatively untapped. When she leaves our program, she’s going to go someplace and realize there’s even more than that. She’s so dedicated. I’m really impressed.”
Jacoby will continue to do what’s made her successful in the place that’s molded her into what she’s become, even if that means having to check the weather before driving to practice or kick out snow that collects in her Crocs on her walk from the car to the pool.
The impact Seward and Alaska have made on her are enormous, something she’ll remember for the remainder of her swimming career, wherever it takes her.
“Coaches all around Alaska have been so supportive,” Jacoby said. “I really have not just my club coaches but a whole state of coaches that are cheering for me. They are all super supportive at swim meets and everything. It’s like a big family.
“With my swimming career, when I leave Alaska, I think they’ll still be super supportive, and it’ll mean a lot to me to be able to represent all the people who have done so much for me.”
But the U.S. National Junior Team member realizes her hometown and her state have helped her become one of the top young breaststrokers in the country, one with a serious chance to compete in the final heat of the 100 breaststroke at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming.
“It’s pretty cool because growing up in Seward, you grow up with the community,” Jacoby said. “Everybody is just really supportive of what I’m doing and just supporting me and helping me make opportunities for myself. Even though we do live in such a small town where there might not be everything, the community does an amazing job of making things happen.”
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March and forced her pool to close, Jacoby’s school loaned her weights and other equipment so she could continue working out, and coaches from the Northern Lights Swim Club invited her to train when their pool reopened in May.
Jacoby has spent the past several months splitting her workouts between Northern Lights Swim Club, which trains about a two-hour drive away in Anchorage, and her home club of Seward Tsunami Swim Club, which lost access to its pool throughout November and December.
Despite the upheaval, Jacoby took drastic leaps forward in 2020.
She went a 1:07.57 seconds in her 100 breaststroke at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Open, the fastest time by an American and the second-fastest time overall in the competition. The high school junior finished behind only University of Texas freshman Anna Elendt, who represents Germany in international competitions, by just seven-hundredths of a second.
Jacoby’s time would’ve placed her fifth at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and was the second fastest ever in the 15-16 age group behind two-time Olympian Megan (Quann) Jendrick’s 1:07.05 gold medal–winning time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Jacoby also dropped five seconds in her 200 breaststroke at the U.S. Open, going 2:32.36 and finishing 13th. Her time would’ve tied her for 38th at Trials in 2016.
“I was really happy,” Jacoby said. “I think my summer training really paid off because I did a lot more aerobic and endurance training than I ever had before, so I think that gave me the edge that I needed in my 200 that I hadn’t had before. It was exciting to see that pay off.”
She achieved those times despite the limitations brought on by her home state.
Jacoby doesn’t train long course because the lone pool in the state capable of being set up for long course only is set up that way for one meet a year. Lacking regular access to a long course pool makes perfecting her stroke count for long course races challenging.
And as could be expected in a sparsely populated state, she doesn’t have a big peer group to swim with and against. Jacoby swam the fastest 100-yard breaststroke in the Alaska Swimming LSC in each of the past three seasons by at least two seconds, and is one of just 12 members of the LSC to ever qualify for Trials.
“She’s kind of the quintessential gamer,” Seward Tsunami Swim Club co-head coach Solomon D’Amico said. “She rises to the occasion. If the competition is higher, if the meet is a bigger meet, she can get herself into a really good headspace and just perform. She’s just incredible.”
Her success has made her “the greatest athlete in Seward High history,” D’Amico added, but Jacoby, a University of Texas commit, figures to have drastic room for improvement once she begins swimming collegiately.
“I don’t see a short-term limit [on her potential] at all,” Northern Lights Swim Club head coach and owner Cliff Murray said. “One thing that Alaska kids have going for them is they’re relatively untapped. When she leaves our program, she’s going to go someplace and realize there’s even more than that. She’s so dedicated. I’m really impressed.”
Jacoby will continue to do what’s made her successful in the place that’s molded her into what she’s become, even if that means having to check the weather before driving to practice or kick out snow that collects in her Crocs on her walk from the car to the pool.
The impact Seward and Alaska have made on her are enormous, something she’ll remember for the remainder of her swimming career, wherever it takes her.
“Coaches all around Alaska have been so supportive,” Jacoby said. “I really have not just my club coaches but a whole state of coaches that are cheering for me. They are all super supportive at swim meets and everything. It’s like a big family.
“With my swimming career, when I leave Alaska, I think they’ll still be super supportive, and it’ll mean a lot to me to be able to represent all the people who have done so much for me.”