Maddie Koutavas ’22
On October 8, postgraduate Jacob Pishko ’22 competed in the 10K at the Las Vegas Open Water Champions Cup.
Pishko, a Naval Academy swimming commit, has always favored open water courses but excels in the pool as well. In fact, he qualified for Olympic Trials in the 200M butterfly in Omaha, Nebraska earlier this year.
In high school, Pishko led his team to three Florida Class 2A State Championships.
Asked to describe the gruelling challenge of an open water 10K, Pishko said, “These races last about two hours and there is a lot of fighting to get to the buoys first.”
Like so many other elite athletes has a specific training regimen and even superstitions, “I usually eat Lucky Charms on my race days.”
Before coming to Mercersburg, Pishko trained with two of the best swim programs in the country. He spent his first three years of high school swimming with the Bolles School in Florida. Bolles has produced some of the best swimmers in the world, including seven-time gold medalist Caeleb Dressel. Pishko then relocated to North Carolina to train and compete with the TAC Titans, another prestigious team.
About his Blue Storm career, as brief as it will be, Pishko said, “I am really excited and pumped for my new season with Coach Glenn and the team.”
Mercersburg Academy swim coach Glenn Neufeld offered insight into Pishko’s likely contributions. “He is sure going to be a threat at Easterns!”