|
ANDOVER —“I made it! I’ll be swimming in the 50 and the 100 free at Beijing! Woohoo!” That was the ecstatic message from alumna Hee-Jin Chang ’05 that greeted girls varsity swim coach Paul Murphy last Friday morning. She was fresh from the pool in South Korea where she had just qualified for the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
South Korea’s Olympic trials were held April 18 and 19. After years of swimming for Andover and now the University of Texas where she is a junior, the Seoul native will be competing for her home team. Chang claimed the 50-meter freestyle in 25.78 seconds before taking the 100-meter freestyle in 56.50 seconds.
While a student at Andover, Chang was named an All-American swimmer in seven events, including relays. In 2005, she led her team to its fourth straight New England championship, cementing its hold as the dominant team on the prep circuit at the time.
Murphy, who was named Swimming Coach of the Year by the Eagle Tribune in 2005, Chang’s senior year, was not surprised. “Hee-Jin was a superb scholar-athlete while she was here and I have watched her progress with great interest over the years at Texas,” Murphy said. “All the coaches in the league watched her amazing talent over four years and we are all very excited to watch her again this summer!” Murphy is also a Phillips Academy math instructor and director of the school’s Summer Session.
At the age of 14 Chang represented South Korea at the 2000 Summer Olympics Games in Sydney, Australia, where she competed in the preliminary rounds of the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events.
|
