At a young age, Jihoon Jung started swimming once his family moved to the United States. As he started to fall in love with the sport, Jihoon would go on to join the club team at HSE. Now, he is entering his senior season at HSE.
“I got into swimming because my sister wanted to when we moved to the US,” Jihoon says, “What I enjoy most about swimming is seeing my improvement at meets after months of hard work.”
This hard work has led to huge improvements in times throughout his career. At these meets, Jihoon has bonded with many other swimmers that share the same passion as him. This year is no different for Jihoon as he is looking forward to racing fast times across the state with his friends and teammates in various events that have come instinctive to him as a swimmer.
“My main events in high school are typically the 200 Individual Medley, 100 Butterfly, and 100 Breaststroke,” Jihoon explains, “these strokes came more naturally to me and I just built from there.”
Although Jihoon swims these events during the high school season, he feels he is best at the 400 Individual Medley, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, and 200 Freestyle. He will look to continue to build upon his events as he will head to Dartmouth College to pursue his athletic and academic career next fall. For Jihoon, the importance of academic success and a close bond between the Dartmouth swim team is what led him to his decision.
“I picked Dartmouth because of the close-knit team and camaraderie with each other, along with their high academic and athletic success,” Jihoon declares, “I feel that this allows me to have more support from my coaches, professors, and other staff.”
Academics, a small student body, and the chance to create tight relationships with teammates and staff are just a few of the reasons Dartmouth felt like home to Jihoon. However, before he heads off to Dartmouth, Jihoon looks to finish his high school swimming career strong. He hopes to break school records and find himself as one of the best in the state, cementing his legacy at HSE.
“A big goal I have for this season is to break school records and finish in the top 3 at state,” Jihoon says, “One of the school records is all the way from 2000, so I think breaking that would be cool.”
With hard work and dedication, Jihoon is striving to complete these goals, while enjoying his senior season with his teammates he has become close with.
After announcing his commitment to Dartmouth, Jihoon Jung is excited about the future, but is focused on making his senior season his best, along with enjoying the opportunity to go out and swim with his teammates.
