Water polo, swimming
Favorite athlete: Ryan Lochte
Favorite team: None
Favorite memory competing in sports: In water polo when we beat Souderton last year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: The funniest moment was in the summertime we always have a relay championship and the girls always wear boys suits on top of their suits and the guys wear girls' suits on top of their suits. It's really fun and great for the little kids to see us and see how much fun we have.
Music on your iPod: Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Wiz Khalifa, Tyga. I like that music in general but that also pumps me up for swimming.
Future plans: Go to college and to help kids/teens who were abused in any type of way, or who abuse drugs and alcohol.
Words to live by: "I'm going for the gold/My heart is in control/My mind is on succeed/And I am in the lead." -- Lil Wayne
One goal before turning 30: To have a consistent job and to be living on my own and just to be as successful as I can at that point.
The winter break is generally considered to be one of the most important -- and most grueling -- stretches for high school swimmers.
There's little respite during the week off, in which swimmers log long -- and often early -- hours in the pool, training for the rest of the season.
But you won't hear Rachel Bohr complain about working hard over the winter break … well, maybe a little.
"It was rough. It was really hard," the Wissahickon senior said of the training, which she missed last season while recovering from surgery for kidney stones. "From laying on my couch all of winter break last year, to being here every day, really early in the morning, and swimming really hard, it was like a wake-up call, a slap in the face … but in a good way."
Bohr decided on the surgery after the kidney stones began causing her unbearable back pains during water polo season.
"It got to the point where I was on the bench crying because it hurt so bad, and I couldn’t play to my fullest potential," she said. "I figured, I would really like to swim to my fullest potential my senior year, so let's get this done and over with and hopefully still swim to some of my expectations my junior year."
Following surgery, Bohr missed about three weeks in the water. Though she described getting back into shape as being "rough," you'd never know it from her results. By her third meet back, she had qualified for Districts in the 50 freestyle.
"Rachel worked hard and she got it," said Wissahickon girls' swim coach Laurie Hug. "She's tough. She's a fighter. I'm really proud of her and what she accomplished."
Bohr experienced another unique obstacle at the Suburban One Championship meet later that season. Aiming for a District-qualifying time in the 100 free, Bohr stepped up to the starting blocks for the race, and her goggles snapped. With no time to get a replacement pair, she swam without goggles. Upon wiping the water from her eyes at the end of her swim, she was rather shocked by the results.
"I got my personal best time, and I qualified," she said. "I was very surprised. I wasn't expecting to do what I did and place."
At the District Championship meet, Bohr again lowered her times in the 50 and 100 free, and she anchored two relays that set new school records. She was named to the American Conference All-League Team in the 200 medley relay (second team), 50 free (second team), 200 free relay (third team) and 100 free (third team).
The ability to overcome obstacles simply comes naturally to Bohr.
"If something is in my way of letting me reach my goals, I just find a way to work around it," she said. "And if I don't achieve my goals, at least I worked around my problems. I'm OK with that."
This year Bohr is pain-free and dedicated to making her final season in the Wissahickon pool the best it can be, both for herself and for her team.
An upbeat and motivated captain on this year's squad that has started the dual meet season 2-0, Bohr is hoping for big things from herself and from her teammates this season.
"I'm really proud of the team this year," she said. "We're really strong and I think we can get really far. We're trying to get a lot of us to districts. Last year we had about 12 girls and we want more this year. I think some of the younger girls will step it up and make it to districts. And we had one girl go to States last year … this year we want a couple more to go.
"For my part, I'm just going to try to give the girls a positive attitude the whole season. I want to keep the energy and vibe up. I don't want anybody to be down, I just want everyone to be happy and do our best all the time."
But -- much like in water polo where Bohr was second on the team with 78 points last season and tallied a team-high 67 goals among her 89 points this year -- Bohr leads in the pool as well.
Sparked by a slightly different and more powerful push off the starting blocks, Bohr has already qualified for Districts in the 50 and 100 free. Her work ethic and positive attitude make her an ideal captain.
"Rachel's a fun girl to be around, everybody loves her and the younger girls all look up to her," Hug said. "She's a great kid. She's a great leader in the pool and out of the pool. She's upbeat, outgoing, motivational."
And when a race is on the line, there's no one else the Lady Trojans would turn to. Bohr anchors the Lady Trojans' 200 medley relay and 200 free relay teams. There's nowhere else she'd rather be and nowhere else her coach would want her.
"The girls look to her on the relays, they depend on her," Hug said. "And she wants to be there. Rachel's the one who wants to be at the end of the relay."
"If we're behind, I really do like the rush that I get," Bohr said. "I love someone being there to push me. It's really nice to have that competition as an anchor."
Bohr, who began swimming in second grade, said she enjoyed the competition of youth swimming, but credits Hug with her helping her find both her passion and success in the pool.
"It didn't start until high school that I really, really started to love swimming," Bohr said. "Here, I really achieved a lot. And when Laurie Hug came in, she worked wonders. When she came, a lot of stuff came out of me and I achieved a lot of things that I had no idea could happen."
She's looking to achieve even more. Her sights are set on the school record of 25.07 seconds in the 50 free.
"Last year at districts I went a 25.2," she said. "It's not that far off, but I really think this year I'll be able to do it. In past years in meets I went 26 (seconds) all through the season, this year I've been consistent at 25. I'm confident that at Suburbans or the Upper Dublin meet I'll be able to go a low 25 or a high 24. That's what I'm going for.
"I wondered after having the surgery if that slowed me down at all, if it affected what I could have done last year. Since I missed part of last year, I want to make up for what I could have done. I think about how this year I'm going to be even better than ever before and make up all that time I lost."
Time is starting to tick away on her high school career. Bohr -- who has been an Honor Roll student throughout her junior and senior years -- will leave the Trojans behind when she heads to college in the fall. While she hasn’t officially committed yet, Bohr is leaning heavily toward the University of Tampa, where she plans to swim and study psychology.
But she's still got some goals to accomplish in high school. And that means etching her name in the school record book, and extending her season as far as it can possibly go.
"The perfect ending for me would be to swim my last 50 at States," she said. "That's what I really want to do. That's my perfect ending."
