Lia Neal, an 11th-grade student at the Convent of the Sacred Heart school in Manhattan (91st Street) qualified for a position on the United States Olympic swimming team during the Omaha Olympic trials.
Hailing from Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, the 17-year-old Neal made the Olympic team Saturday night after coming in fourth in the 100-meter freestyle. Lia will compete on the relay team in London this summer.
From Dr. Joe Ciancaglini, Head of School, Convent of the Sacred Heart-91st Street:
Please join the entire Sacred Heart community in praying for and cheering on 91st Street senior Lia Neal and the women's 4 x 100 freestyle relay team this Saturday, July 28th at the London Olympics! The qualifying heat will be live on NBCOlympics.com at 7:11 am EST and the final heat will occur at 3:40 pm EST. Please visit the NBCOlympics.com website prior to the start time of the heats and click the “Click Here & Get Ready” button to register for the live streaming. Some NBC television stations may be broadcasting the heat live and re-airing taped highlights throughout the day. Check your local listings.
Click here to read Lia's story.
- You Tube video at trials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKrszXrtq4 - Post-Qualifying YouTube interview
- New York Dail News story: Click here
From 91st Street:
Congratulations to Lia Neal '13, a new member of the 2012 US Olympic Women's Swimming Team! Lia earned fourth place in the 100 Meter Freestyle to secure a spot on the 4 X 100 Meter Freestyle Relay.
Special recognition also goes to Isla Hutchinson Maddox who competed in the Women's 200 Meter Butterfly at the Olympic Trials and improved her national youth ranking. Way to go, Lia! Best of luck in London!
Click below to view some of the national media coverage spotlighting Lia's achievement:
- New York Times: "Now Swimming for the U.S.: A 17-Year-Old From Brooklyn"
- New York Times: "Black Swimmers Increasing Diversity of the U.S. Team"
- New York Times: "Victory in 200 Backstroke Sets the Stage for Seven Possible Medals" (The second half of the article is about Lia)
- Newsday: "NYC's Lia Neal an Olympian after 4th-place Finish"
- Washington Post: "New York City’s Lia Neal, 17, becomes 2nd African-American woman to make US Olympic swim team"
- Baltimore Sun: "Lia Neal Relishing Olympic Opportunity, Status as Role Model"
- Associated Press Video Interview: See the video link in the right hand related files menu
- US Swimming Youtube Interview: Click Here