Submitted by Bellingham Bay Swim Team
Emma Carlton, 16, of the Bellingham Bay Swim Team qualified for the 2016 US Olympic Trials in the 100 Meter Butterfly with a time of 1:00.84 at Speedo Sectionals at King County Aquatic Center in March. Carlton, an incoming junior at Mt. Vernon High School, is Bellingham Bay Swim Team’s first swimmer to qualify for this meet and will travel to Omaha, Nebraska the last week in June. The US Olympic Trials is the second fastest meet in the world, only behind the actual Olympics.
“I am not nervous at all. I am one hundred percent excited for this meet and if I was nervous, I would take deep breaths and enjoy it because it only comes once every four years,” said Carlton. “My expectations are high. I expect to go in there and swim as fast and as hard as I possibly can because I know I have an amazing gift from God. But, I also want to go and have fun.”
Carlton currently is nationally ranked 61st of all-time in Top 100 for 100 Meter Fly/Long Course for 15-16-year-old girls. She owns thirty individual team records and is .19 off of the Local Swimming Committee (LSC) record set by Dana Kirk (Bremerton), a 2004 Olympian in the 100 Fly.
Head Coach Sean Muncie said that this is the most talented group of young swimmers he’s ever worked with and when he arrived four years ago, he told the swimmers as much “…but where do you want to go and what are we going to do about it?”
The Olympic Trials will be televised live June 26 through July 3, 2016, on NBC. Carlton will race the 100 FLY on Sunday, June 26 with qualifying heats at 6:00 p.m. via NBC Sports Net.
