Rachel Bockrath stepped onto the blocks of Rutgers University's pool knowing she needed to shave thirty-five-hundredths of a second from her morning prelim time to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 100-meter freestyle.

The Brandywine senior flipped at the wall exactly 0.35 seconds faster than her opening 50 in the long course pool hours earlier. In that moment, a thought flickered in the mind of her coach James Mauk: The same close from the morning swim would suffice. Anything slower and Bockrath would just miss the cut.

Bockrath tagged the wall in first place, spun her head around and found the scoreboard with her eyes. She had matched her close to a T, swimming the exact qualifying standard of 55.79. She let out a scream.

"I was just in shock," Bockrath said. "It was obviously like happiness and satisfaction with finally achieving my dream, but it was also relief. … I knew I could hit the time, but it's still surreal."

Before she swims at the trials, held over a week in mid-June at the Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium, Bockrath will be one of several stars of the DIAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Delaware's Rawstrom Natatorium.

Prelims for the girls events will be held Thursday night with finals scheduled for Saturday.

Athletes can compete in four races, but no more than two can be individual events. Bockrath has won the 50- and 100-yard free in each of the last three years. She could become the fourth girl since 2010 to win two individual state championships in each of their four high school seasons.

The list currently includes Tatnall's Kaitlyn Jones (class of 2013), Charter of Wilmington's Lily Dubroff (2015) and Tower Hill's Lainey Mullins (2023). Bockrath would be the only one in the group to have not competed at the high school level as an eighth grader.

"In the water, she's always trying to push herself to things she hasn't done before," Mauk said. "She always wants to do a harder set than she did the day before and push the limits each day, and that eventually pays off in the long run."

Routine record breaker

At last year's state championships, Bockrath lowered her own 100 free state record to 49.32. Swimming leadoff on Brandywine's 200-yard free relay, Bockrath also set the 50 free state record with a split of 22.85, eight-hundredths of a second ahead of Dubroff's 11-year-old record.

This year, Bockrath is racing the 200-yard free instead of the 50, in addition to the 100, 200 free relay and 400-yard free relay. She is aiming for Mullins' 200 free record of 1:47.69. She swam about three-tenths behind Mullins' time at a club meet in December.

When asked whether she considers her place in the sport's history in Delaware, Bockrath said, "It's cool to be remembered for my times, but I hope that I'm remembered as a nice person who could swim."

Outside of the pool, she spends time cooking and baking — homemade pizza in the air fryer is a recent favorite — and is trying to learn all of the world's capitols with her friend Eli Claney. When she's on the pool deck Saturday, Bockrath will be most excited for her team's relays. After winning both free relays at the Blue Hen Conference Championships earlier this month, she expects to place higher at states than they have in past years.

"The energy of conferences and states is so special," Bockrath said. "High school is really about your team. I love the energy of that. Trying to have your relay close down on someone else is so fun."

Bockrath's swimming career started in the North Brandywine Swim League at Crestview Swim Club off Marsh Road. She joined Wilmington Aquatics Club at age 8 and has been training there year-round ever since. Bockrath is now coached by Mauk, a four-time All-State swimmer at Concord from 2012 to 2015 who went on to compete at Lehigh University.

In the club's elite group, Bockrath practices with several previous All-State honorees, including Caitlin Horning and Isabella Caraballo of Ursuline and Logan Bagley of Padua.

Next year, Bockrath will enroll at Ohio State University.

"The culture of that team is just so amazing," Bockrath said of her college choice. "They're all just so devoted to the sport. ... It's a whole new story."

Qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials

The trials had been wading in the back of Bockrath's mind since the Tokyo Games in 2021. At the time, she was about a half-second off of the 50 free standard for the trials. It was close enough to feel that the goal was reachable but far enough away that it wasn't her sole occupation.

Last summer, the goal became painfully real. In July, Bockrath missed the 50 free time by eight-hundredths of a second. The following week in her final race of the season, she again fell short of the standard. The near-miss sent her WAC coaches searching for a rare long course meet (a trials qualifier has to be swum in an Olympic-sized pool) during the winter, which is typically reserved for high school competitions.

Bockrath tapered for the Rutgers meet in early January thinking she would have a better chance of qualifying in the 50 than in the 100. But a day after missing the 50 standard, Bockrath swam the best she ever had in a morning session in the 100 prelims. That gave her an extra vote of confidence heading into the evening session.

She took her standard two-hour nap, returned to the pool and found just enough — 0.35 seconds to be exact.

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on X and Instagram @holveck_brandon. Follow him on TikTok @bholveck.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Trials-bound Rachel Bockrath favorite at DIAA Swimming Championships