Franklin opts to swim with high school team
Five Olympic medals and a few months later, swimmer Missy Franklin has decided that she will swim with her high school team at Regis Jesuit in Aurora, Colo, according to USA Today.
The high school senior had initially said that she would not swim for fear of disrupting her teammates during the course of the season. According to Franklin’s father, Dick Franklin, the family came to the decision that she would swim after Missy committed to the University of California-Berkeley and sat down with her high school coach and athletic director.
“There were a lot of concerns on her part in terms of what it meant and how other people were feeling about her competing or not competing,” Dick Franklin said. “She didn’t want to upset anybody and she wanted to do the right thing.”
Both her high school coach and athletic director, as well as her classmates encouraged Franklin to continue swimming with the school.
“We watched her go from nations, to breaking a world record and she never changed,” classmate Abby Cutler said.
Franklin will swim an abbreviated schedule with Regis as she will continue to swim for USA Swimming. This means the 17-year-old will only make it to two dual meets and the state meet for Regis.
“She’s only got nine more months in Colorado,” Dick Franklin said. “There are going to be very few chances for Colorado people to watch her swim again. Then she leaves for California and she will be there for quite some time.”
Franklin’s concern for her teammates is incredibly heartwarming, but it doesn’t stop there. Even though she won five medals during the 2012 Olympics and set a world record, Franklin still said the highlight of her year was “winning the state meet with my Regis sisters. It was something I’ll never forget.”
