In the case of women’ highschool swimming in Tennessee, there isn’t any one fairly as revered as Tracy Caulkins Stockwell.
Stockwell was born in Minnesota however moved to Nashville along with her household as a baby.
At 13, Stockwell certified for the AAU nationwide championship and as a freshman at Harpeth Corridor in 1977, Stockwell gained her first nationwide championship. Harpeth Corridor didn’t have a faculty swimming workforce on the time however a longtime bodily training trainer named Patty Chadwell put collectively a squad and commenced placing the women in meets.
Whereas Harpeth Corridor was profitable the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Affiliation (TISCA) state championships in 1979, 1980, and 1981, Stockwell was displaying out on the worldstage.
Stockwell was solely 15 when she gained 5 gold medals (200-meter butterfly, 200-meter IM, 400-meter IM, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, 4×100-meter medley relay) and one silver medal (100-meter breaststroke) on the 1978 World Championships in West Berlin.
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She was awarded the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, which yearly acknowledges essentially the most excellent newbie athlete in the USA, later that 12 months turning into the youngest recipient to win the award and the fifth girl to win it.
Stockwell was additionally the second Tennessean to win the award, becoming a member of Wilma Rudolph who gained it in 1961.
After qualifying for seven occasions within the 1980 Summer time Olympic Video games, Stockwell’s Olympic goals must wait as the USA boycotted the video games in Moscow.
Stockwell graduated from Harpeth Corridor in 1981 and accepted a swimming scholarship to the College of Florida.
After 4 lengthy years of ready, Stockwell certified for 4 occasions within the 1984 Summer time Olympics and was named the workforce captain.
She would go on to win three gold medals within the 400 IM, the 200 IM (with an Olympic document) and as a member of the 400 medley relay workforce.
Stockwell retired from swimming after the Olympics and didn’t swim her senior 12 months at Florida. She ended her profession with 5 world data, 63 US data, 48 particular person nationwide swimming titles and 12 particular person NCAA titles.
She was additionally the one swimmer in historical past to set American data and earn nationwide titles in all 4 aggressive strokes and the primary and solely swimmer to set 5 American data in a single nationwide championship.
An inductee into a number of halls of fame, Stockwell stays energetic within the swimming world. In February of this 12 months, she was named the President of Australia Swimming, turning into simply the second girl to carry the place.
Attain Joe Spears at [email protected] or 731-343-4923. Comply with him on Instagram and Twitter @joe_spears7.