National Swimming Honors

The National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association School (NISCA) announced that five Tiger swimmers earned High School All-America honors for the recently completed 2019-2020 season. Individual event honors were achieved by two Academy juniors, Erin Jachym (Westfield, Massachusetts) and Joseph Rusnock (Suffield, Connecticut). In the events for which they qualified, both Jachym and Rusnock eclipsed school records that had stood for more than a decade, with Jachym swimming to a speedy 4:55.93 in the 500-yard freestyle and Rusnock challenging the 56-barrier in an impressive 56.11 swim. For Rusnock, it was his second consecutive year making the nation’s top 100 list, which includes teams from all of the nation’s public and private high schools.

The boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay also earned All-America recognition. The 4 x 50 free quartet powered to their fast 1:25.50 posting led by the efforts of Rusnock, followed by Marco Secchiaroli ’20 (Milford, Connecticut), Thomas Bowers ’22 (Nassau, Bahamas), and Brett Smith ’20 (Smiths Parish, Bermuda).

Coach Andy Lowe said of the swimmers’ accomplishments, “These student-athletes all worked successfully across a challenging season, fighting off illness and injury, and came together for some great team swimming at the New England Division I Championships, where all of these fast swims were achieved. They deserve these accolades for their focus and ability to maximize opportunities in training and competition.”