Meet Vera Conic, the high school swimmer living her dream after qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Trials
ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. - It's a dream that's finally coming to fruition.
This June, Vera Conic, a Rolling Meadows High School Student, will compete at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Indianapolis with the end goal of competing in Paris later this Summer.
She swam a 2:13.20 in the 200-meter backstroke on the third day of the 2024 Spring Cup in Elkhart, Indiana, which was a personal best at the time and made the cut for the Olympic Trials. She also made the Olympic Trial cut in the 100-meter backstroke, clocking a 1:01.80.
The most impressive part of Conic's story is that she isn't an upperclassman at Rolling Meadows High School yet.
"It’s been a dream of mine for so long," Conic, a Rolling Meadows high school sophomore, said. "It’s been something I’ve thought about for months and months and months."
Conic is no stranger to breaking records.
Currently ranked no. 1 in Illinois among girls swimmers, Conic has taken the swimming world by storm for the Mustangs. She won state her freshman year in the 100-meter backstroke.
"I believe she broke three records in her first high school swim meet," Chiappetta said. "Some records were 40 years old and she just came in and everyone knew her immediately."
Now she's ready to make her name known on an even bigger stage: the U.S Olympic Trials.
"To have someone be in high school during the Olympic time which only happens every four years, and knowing that she came in as a freshman with that as a goal," Rolling Meadows head swimming coach Monika Chiappetta said, "It’s amazing to be a part of that journey with her."
Conic will compete in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke for a chance to represent Team USA at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
"It is added pressure, but I work towards these things," Conic said. "I know that I’m capable of doing it. I just need to do all the small things to be able to reach these types of goals."
With the U.S. Olympic Trails slated for next month, Conic says it’s the belief from her parents, who are Serbian immigrants, that's inspired her to pursue her dreams.
"My mom and dad are by far the most hard-working people I’ve ever met," Conic said. "They came here with not too much, built what they have built, and being able to copy their patterns and lifestyle and be as hard-working as them one day. "
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