- April 29, 2024
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Carolyne Vasoncellos is Florida’s top synchronized swimmer. She aims for national recognition next week, in Ohio.
Carolyne Vasconcellos spends most of her time in the water.
At 5 years old, Vasconcellos began swimming. Then, at 11, her mother, Isabella, formed a synchronized swimming team. Vasconcellos has been dancing under and above the water ever since.
Vasconcellos, a 2012 graduate of Flagler Palm Coast High School, is a member of the Flagler County Synchro Belles — a competitive team that recently won its seventh consecutive state championship.
After the team’s most recent state title June 10, in Gainesville, the Synchro Belles are headed to Oxford, Ohio, to compete at the USA Synchro nationals, June 22 to June 30.
Vasconcellos won the state title in the individual, duet and trio routines. The duet was actually a last-minute decision when a teammate couldn’t compete. Vasconcellos substituted perfectly.
At nationals last year, she finished third in the solo but won the national championship in the trio routine in the 16-to-17 age group.
This year, she hopes to take first place in three events — solo, trio and figurines.
The trio team will move up an age group to 18-to-19. Vasconcellos said she’s improved immensely in the solo and trio routines.
But that didn’t come without dedication, she said.
For the past seven years, she has spent six days a week at the swimming pool.
“It used to be less, but now, as I got older, it has gotten more intense,” she said Monday before practice.
The dedication has paid off.
Earlier this month at the Sunshine State games, Vasconcellos added to her already decorated career.
She was named the Swimmer of the Year by the Florida Synchro Association for the seventh time in seven years.
She was also named the Athlete of the Year for all sports by the Florida Sports Foundation. When Vasconcellos began to get heavily involved in synchronized swimming, she told her mother that she would win the Athlete of the Year award.
“It’s hard to explain,” she said with a smile. “I want to be (at the pool). It’s become a part of my life. Instead of a hobby, it’s something that I can’t really live without — I can’t imagine my life without it.”
When the Synchro Belles leave for nationals on Friday, it will be one of the final events for Vasconcellos’ youth synchronized swimming career. Next up: college.
She signed a full athletic scholarship with the University of the Incarnate Word — a liberal arts school based in San Antonio. The university won the national synchronized swimming title this past season.
Vasconcellos wants to study pre-med while in school, but plenty of her four years will be spent preparing for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Although the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, haven’t started yet, Vasconcellos has her swimming sights set on 2016, when the Summer Olympics will be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — where most of her family lives.
Qualifying for the Olympics would be a dream come true, Vasconcellos said. Especially for a taxing sport like synchronized swimming.
“Everybody thinks synchronized swimming is water ballet and really gentle, but it’s one of the most intense sports,” she said. “I’ve played soccer and swimming and they are all hard, but this really tests you mentally and physically.”
NATIONALS
The Flagler County Synchro Belles will perform nine routines at nationals June 22 to June 30, in Oxford, Ohio.
The Synchro Belles, a synchronized swimming team based out of Palm Coast, have qualified for nationals every year since 2005 and have won high points at states for the past six years.
Last year, the team’s trio event in the 16-to-17 age division won the national title.
— Email Andrew O’Brien at [email protected].
