Athlete Spotlight- Carolyn Kao

Junior volleyball player, waterpolo player, and swimmer Carolyn Kao is a tri-sport athlete, holding seven school records in swim. Kao has qualified for CIF in swim every season since her freshman year and placed in the top 10 each race.

Kao began club swim at the age of 10 and since then has become one of the fastest swimmers in CIF division 2. This past league finals Kao almost won every event she was in being the 100 butterfly, the 200 free relay, the 400 free relay and then placing second in the 100 free. Then in the extremely competitive CIF finals Kao finished 6th place in the 50 free and 10th in 100 butterfly. That is incredible for the amount of top swimmers including herself that are competing in these events.

Kao has only been competing in swim at San Dimas for 3 years now and has already broken 7 records in which she has already broken some of her own. Kao has individual records for the 200 IM, 50 free, 100 butterfly, 100 free, and the 100 backstroke. Then her and he relay teams set the record for the 200 free and 400 free. On top of all her records Kao was named the MVP of the swim team her freshman year and MVP of her waterpolo team her junior year.

When asked how it has been coaching Kao, Danny Feola responded, “She’s honestly one of the best all around athletes I have coached. She never gives up and I appreciate that”.

While playing high school sports and club sports all year around Kao has also maintained an average of 4.5 gpa. That seems incredibly hard as an athlete who goes to multiple practices a night so when asked how she manages it she said, “Well, kind of don’t…I mean I do obviously, but it’s really hard to be honest. A lot of super late and stressful nights, but it’s worth it”.  Not to mention that she is taking 4 AP classes and has been taken 8 AP’s through out high school and she is only a junior.

Besides all of Carolyn’s accomplishments in school and in her sports she is also an outstanding teammate, person, and student. Kao is said to be “Really hard on herself and doesn’t really like to talk about her accomplishments, when she should be talking about them, she’s amazing, and beyond how good of a athlete she is she’s also a really great friend. We’ve been friends since kindergarten and there has never been a moment that I couldn’t count on Carolyn”Maddie Coss, Junior. Carolyn Kao is an incredible friend, student, athlete, and teammate. We cannot wait to see what Carolyn’s Senior year has in store for her.