Feb. 14 marked an important day for one Hopkins sport. Although most people reserve the day for their Valentine, the Men’s Swimming team celebrated the birthday of Athlete of the Week Anthony Lordi; a freshman on the team, who has more than earned his spot in the lane.
At 6-foot-2-inches, the freshman from Philadelphia has been setting top times for the season across the board. So far, he has had the second fastest time for the 50-yard freestyle, six out of the top ten fastest times in the 100 yard freestyle, including the two fastest times in that event, five out of the ten fastest times in the 200-yard freestyle (including the top three fastest times), three out of the ten fastest times in the 500-yard freestyle (including the number one fastest time for that event), the eleventh fastest time for the 100-yard backstroke and the fifth fastest time for the 200-yard backstroke.
In addition, he has placed in the top ten fastest times for the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard individual medley (with the fastest three times for that event), the 400-yard individual medley (with the fastest time), the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard medley relay.
Looking at these accomplishments, it might be easier to instead count the five events he hasn’t had a top time in.
These accomplishments might have something to do with Lordi’s personality.
“Anthony really enjoys competition in anything he does . . . he keeps getting better because he wants to keep getting better, and he won’t let himself not keep getting better,” said George Kennedy, head coach of Men’s Swimming for 25 years with 15 conference titles under his belt.
And he will have to keep improving if he wants to realize his goal of qualifying for the Olympic trials this summer. The deadline to qualify for the trials is this summer.
But for Lordi, it’s just part of being on the team, a sentiment he expressed when he explained the offseason workouts. “We try to keep in the water as much as possible . . . [but] as serious as it gets we still manage to goof off a lot . . . it’s a lot of fun.”
Lordi is a valuable asset amongst a large group of freshman on the team — 11 out of 25 members of the team are freshman, a number which amounts to four less kids than Lordi’s extremely small high school swim team.
In high school, Lordi was in the water for much of his time. “I played varsity water polo in high school . . . with two guys who are juniors now on the [Hopkins] Men’s Water Polo team,” said Lordi.
Swimming was always his sport of choice, though, as Lordi told me. “I was six when I was on my first swim team.” It has been his sport of choice ever since. The Athlete of the Week went on to become a three-time All-American, recognized sophomore, junior and senior year for his achievements in the pool. Despite playing soccer at a young age, Lordi decided early on that the pool was the place for him. The firm-ground sport just didn’t have the same attraction.
In addition to his life in the sports world, Lordi takes academics seriously. Laughing, he told me he plans to major in “public health and pre-med . . . if I can keep up with it.” He also plans on doing work at the tutoring center in the spring.
This focus on academics probably had a large impact on Lordi’s selection of where to attend school this year; understandably a hard decision for someone who has “received offers to swim at Princeton and Penn,” said Coach Kennedy.
The choice to swim at Hopkins seems to have been a good one for Lordi. As Coach Kennedy puts it, “the team chemistry is unbelievable.” After talking to Lordi, he seemed to be positive about the future of the team, and about how well the guys on the team like each other.
When asked if the team spent time with each other out of the pool, Anthony assured me that they did and that they are a “pretty tight group,” to say the least.
The season is far from over, though, as both Lordi and Coach Kennedy are looking to the future with hopeful eyes. “I’m going to be swimming in all the Conference relays, and am really close to making the Conference in both the 200 and 100 individual freestyles,” said Lordi.
“I want to be right up there to win the individuals,” Lordi said, “but my main focus is on the relays.” This seems to fit Coach Kennedy’s description of Lordi’s attitude, when he said “he always realizes the best interest for the team . . . [which has] been enhanced by his presence so far.”
What makes Lordi such a valuable member of the team is not necessarily the fact that he is better in certain races, but that he has the ability to compete in a multitude of races. As Coach Kennedy put it, “He’s not just ‘fast-good,’ but he’s ‘versatile-good’ . . . he’s really good in any freestyle.” This accounts for the fact that he holds so many top times — he is valuable in almost any type of race.
While Coach Kennedy was deliberate to point out that any one member of the team cannot single-handedly win an event, he did feel comfortable saying “if we don’t have him in some meets, we won’t win some meets.”
Lordi was one of the top recruits for the team, and has proven himself that it is a title he is willing to earn. But, despite all this success in the pool, Coach Kennedy was eager to point out that in the end, he’s just an “upbeat, fun-loving normal college guy.”
