"When the Olympic coach saw me, he asked if I was a swimmer, just because I had a swimmers body, and of course I said no, I am not and will probably never be. But I was very wrong" She was wrong indeed. She did not just go from a leotard to a swimsuit, but she was one of the state's most successful freshman last season. Her body may have matured too quickly for gymnastics, but she was in perfect shape for the pool and after only a few years in swimming Kroeger was already breaking age-group records. Chesterton had a big group of impressive freshmen both on the men's and women's side but swimmers like Gary Kostbade and Kroeger went above and beyond at the 2014 IHSAA swimming and diving state championship meet. She finished fifth in the 100 backstroke and sixth in the 200 IM. Not only were her times impressive but besides Carmel's Sammie Burchil, Kroeger was the only freshman in the 200 IM event. "It was really motivating for me to just be in the same race with all of the older and really great swimmers. The last few years I watched that same state meet online with the goal of being at that level (placing at the state meet) when I reached high school, and now achieving that goal was amazing." Even though Kroeger had a fantastic season she still did not come into the season with any real big expectations. She is more of a low profile kind of swimmer, which is fine. Sometimes the less you are in the spotlight, the less the stress you put on yourself. "I didn't have huge expectations, i did just kind of go with the flow, but I went into it excited to be a part of the Chesterton high school swim program and to swim under one of the best coaches in the nation, Coach Kinnel" Kevin Kinnel -- the Chesterton mastermind who was behind the success of a lot of national level swimmers, swimmers like Kyle Whitaker. Kinnel coached Kyle while he broke a national high school record his senior year. He has also coached younger twin brothers Aaron and Ethan and even IU freshman standout Blake Pieroni. Now Kroeger has the honor to have this man as her coach once again as she heads into her sophomore year of swimming. Chesterton has become dominant in Indiana when it comes to swimming. There has been some outstanding talent that has come from there and Kroeger could very much be the program's future. Kinnel has even stated that he thinks she has what it takes to make her mark. She has some impressive goals to push her as well, like achieving junior cuts in yards. Greatness is coming her way this season but it is still hard to believe that she was a ten year gymnast before she even jumped into the pool. "I started in 6th grade and the main reasons was because I met a lot of new kids at our intermediate school when all the different elementary schools came together, and many of the kids were swimmers. After school everyday they would all walk through town from the intermediate school to the middle school together and I didn't get to be a part of that because I was still in gymnastics. But at the same time I was beginning to get way too tall for gymnastics so I decided to try swimming with all of these new friends. A lot of them had been swimming for a long time and were in the highest level while I was just a beginner so a lot of people thought I wouldn't last very long in the sport because I was much older than the other beginners since I was starting much later than them. But because I was a gymnast for 10 years, I had already trained my body to be pretty athletic and much of that athleticism transferred over to my swimming, allowing me to excel at swimming." She was a very talented gymnast but now is also a very talented swimmer. So If Kroeger's body did not develop too quick for the balance beam, would she still be doing gymnastics and not swimming? "That's a really good question, and I'm not exactly sure of the answer. I'm guessing that I might still be doing gymnastics if I was free of injuries going into high school." Chesterton graduated twenty six seniors last season. The girls will need to look for a leader. One of those leaders could very much be Kroeger but you have to remember, she is only a sophomore now. That is a lot of responsibility to put on someone so young but Kroeger seems up to the challenge if she is looked to for it. "Probably somewhere in between, i still want to keep somewhat of a low profile, but if the team needs someone to lead, I will be there to step up and help the team in a positive way. "I definitely think (girls wise) we are capable of doing just as well as we did last year, and hopefully doing even better" Outside of the pool Cara is a big time golfer as well. She finished fiftieth at last season's state meet and her game this season is looking even better but her eyes seems to be set on this upcoming high school swim season. Chesterton has a chance to make a huge impact at state this year considering they still have the likes of Vanessa Krause and Kelly Craig returning. Kroeger will have to rely on her teammates to push her in practice to improve her skills greatly if she wants to stand against the four powerful returning seniors in the 200 IM but one thing you can be certain about Kroeger, her tendency to shock people with her stunning performances. This girl is very versatile. She was ranked second in both the butterfly and breaststroke last season. Watch out for Chesterton's sophomore Cara Kroeger. |
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February 2015
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