Council Rock North senior Jaqueline Rounsavill has signed a letter of intent to continue her swimming career at Bucknell University. (Photos provided)
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Jacqueline Rounsavill – Bucknell University (Swimming)
Major: Undecided
Final list of colleges: Bucknell, Lehigh, Dartmouth
Reasons for choosing Bucknell: “When I was choosing a college, I really had to look at the academics first, and I felt like I fit in the best at Bucknell because I thought that I would be able to contribute there and also continue to challenge myself academically. I’m going in undecided next year, but I have a general interest in the sciences. There are three different schools at Bucknell and you have to declare which one you’re going into, so I’ll be going into the College of Arts and Sciences. There were a lot of different options that I thought were .jpg)
intriguing there, so that was the first factor.
“The second was obviously the team dynamic and everything about swimming. I’d been at Bucknell before, and the pool obviously is really nice, and I know they’re a great D-1 team. When I went to visit, the coaches were so welcoming, and then I eventually met the team, and everybody there was so nice. I felt like it was a really welcoming team that I would love to be a part of.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in swimming at the collegiate level? “Seeing my sister (Nicole) - who plays Division 1 softball at Colgate – go through the process of picking a college and then getting an opportunity to play opened my eyes to that possibility. She had a really positive experience, so I think that was something I was always looking at. The next step I took to really get focused and make that more of a priority was joining a club team that was a lot more serious, so I joined George School Aquatics my sophomore year just to be able to train even more and set more goals for myself. I think that’s when the whole process started.”
CR North coach Greg Walker: “Jacqueline has been a consistent contributor to the team since her freshman year. What makes her good is her commitment and love of the sport. Not only is she an accomplished swimmer but is outstanding in the classroom as well. What makes her stand out are not only her accomplishments but her leadership in and out of the pool and helpfulness to her teammates. She is an outstanding individual and has been a pleasure to have on the Council Rock North swim team. Bucknell is lucky to get not only and great swimmer but outstanding individual.”
George School Aquatics Club coach Bob Kupperman says: “Jacqueline really is the penultimate example of an outstanding student-athlete. She signed with Bucknell to swim next year, so she’s officially our club’s first D-1 signer. Her primary events are the sprint events – namely, the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, but she’s also a very capable 100 freestyler. Honestly, over the past couple of years she has developed into a very well rounded swimmer. Before, her sole focus was sprint, breaststroke and freestyle. Now she can actually perform very capable IMs, a good 200 freestyle. She’s even branched out and has a very good backstroke, and that’s all due and attributed to her unparalleled work ethic. She’s just an incredibly hard worker, she’s incredibly consistent with her practices both here and for coach (Brian) Johnson at Council Rock North because once high school swim season starts she essentially divides her time between our two programs and just gives it 110 percent every time she’s in the water.
“Jacqueline is a naturally good athlete. When she came to us almost two years ago, there were a lot of technical elements, mechanical things that needed to be addressed and fixed in terms of the quality of her stroke, and just over a very short period of time she was able to take these changes and conceptualize them and physicalize them. Her mechanics and technique really improved in a short period of time. Also, she is a very, very exceptional sprinter, and yet one of the things we do here at GSA is we put a pretty strong emphasis on middle distance swimming and training, working all four strokes and IM, so it was a little bit out of her comfort zone, but as such, because of her work ethic, because of her consistency at practice, she has become the swimmer that she is today. Whereas before she might have been able to be pigeonholed as solely a 50 freestyler or solely a breaststroker, now she’s going to be a very utilitarian swimmer at Bucknell. She will already be a top four or five in her two primary events, but now she’ll also be in the top five or six for a number of other races as well. That’s what makes her a great swimmer – her attention to detail, her coachability and her dedication.”
About Jacqueline:
Favorite food: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Favorite movie: Cheaper by the Dozen
Favorite music: Kygo & Vance Joy
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