Abel on 2005 Jr. National Team

US Synchronized Swimming, the governing body of the sport of synchronized swimming, has selected Brooke Abel of Fallbrook to be a member of the 2005 Junior National Team.

Abel was one of ten members named to the 2005 team. The 17-year-old Abel has been on the Junior National Team twice before, but she had been selected to the National Team itself in November 2004 and this will be the first year she will be representing both the National Team and the Junior National Team in matches.

She also expects to have more of a leadership role on the Junior National Team than she has had in the past. “This year it will be kind of different,” she said. “I’m one of the older ones on there.”

Abel’s selection to the Junior National Team was announced April 10 along with the awards for the Speedo Junior Synchronized Swimming Championship which was held April 9-10 in Canton, OH. During that championship meet Abel competed in the team, duet, and trio competition with Riverside Aquettes club teammates. Her team and trio routines were winners at the championship meet while the duet placed second.

The team competition at Canton consisted of eight swimmers on each team. “It was really exciting,” Abel said. “It was the first time we ever won the Junior National competition.”

The Aquettes have been competing for six decades. They completed the finals with 83.602 points while the Walnut Creek Aquanuts were second with 83.279 points. Abel said that she was unsure whether her team had won until the awards were announced. “It was actually very close,” she said.

Abel felt that the Aquettes lived up to the pressure. “I think it was our best swim,” she said.

The trio finals were similarly close. Abel, Barb Nesbitt, and Caitlin Stewart gave the Aquettes 83.482 points while three Walnut Creek Aquanuts swimmers earned 82.917 points. “We swam our best swim for that one, also,” Abel said.

“Going into the competition we were pretty much expecting first or second,” she said. “We were happy that we got first.”

Abel had not swum with both Nesbitt and Stewart prior to this year. “I didn’t really know I was going to swim with them this year,” Abel said. “I didn’t know exactly how it was going to play out, but it ended up pretty good.”

Last year Abel had swum with Stewart in the duet. This year her partner was 14-year-old Danielle DeCarlo. “That was kind of an adjustment to me,” Abel said of being paired with a younger swimmer. “We ended up pulling it together pretty good.”

Abel said that the duet was not expecting to earn first place. “We were actually really pleased when we got second,” she said. “Second was actually really good for us.”

Abel and DeCarlo received a score of 82.500 while winners Christina Jones and Carolyn Watts of the Santa Clara Aquamaids earned 84.679 points. Abel and DeCarlo had not previously swum together in a competition.

This is Abel’s seventh year with the Aquettes and her third year with the “A” team, or the top level of the club’s seven teams. Prior to joining the Aquettes, she had participated in a local park pool program in Northridge.

The Abel family was living in Northridge when she began her synchronized swimming career. “When I was younger I was trying out a whole bunch of different sports,” she said. “I didn’t really find one that I really liked that much.”

Her family came across a sign-up sheet for the synchronized swimming program. “We thought we’d try it out,” Abel said.

The family heard about the Aquettes, and Abel tried out for the team. “We decided that we’d continue driving over there to see how it would be,” she said.

At first the Abel family made two to three trips a week to Riverside, although during the past two years she has practiced with the squad daily. “Most of my days are spent swimming,” she said.

The family, who moved from Northridge to Fallbrook in November, does not have a swimming pool at their Fallbrook home. “I think if I had a pool at home, I don’t think I’d use it very much,” Abel said.

Abel, who is homeschooled, practices in the mornings and evenings while studying between practices or during the drive. “Most of the time I stay there all day,” she said.

The trip from Northridge to Riverside took approximately 90 minutes each way, while the trip from Fallbrook to Riverside takes about half that time. “This has cut it down,” Abel said. “It’s a lot easier to travel back and forth now.”

The National Team won two bronze medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, one for the duet performance and one for the team competition. Abel was named to the National Team shortly after the Olympics. “For that one I was surprised,” she said.

Abel is the youngest swimmer on the National Team and has set a goal of competing in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She traveled to Moscow in 2004 with the Junior National Team, and this summer she will compete for both the National Team and the Junior National Team.

“That will be tricky,” she said.

The National Team’s meets include the Rome Open in June and the Senior Worlds in Montreal in August. The Junior National Team will also have an August tournament, the Pam-American Games in Orlando, but Abel will be able to participate in both the Worlds and the Pan-American Games.

Abel’s summer will also include training at the Olympic Training Centers in Colorado Springs and Chula Vista.