Paseo Aquatics and former Valencia High School swimmer Julia Wolf was recently among the nation’s elite 50-meter freestyle swimmers attending the prestigious National Training Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The 17-year-old former Valencia resident’s qualifying event for the National Camp was in the 50-Meter Freestyle and Wolf was one of 48 top U.S. swimmers to be selected to attend the camp.

Every year USA Swimming selects the top three swimmers in each Olympic event to experience, first-hand, the training and preparation that goes into becoming a member of the U.S. Olympic Team.

For the four days, athletes learn about post-race recovery, drug and supplement rules, psychological training skills, nutrition, race strategy and more.

Wolf, who previously swam for Valencia High School before this year, spent five years training under Paseo Aquatics Coach Chris Dahowski, and became the first Paseo Aquatics swimmer to qualify for the World Trials, where she competed in the 50 Freestyle last July in Indianapolis.

The very next week Wolf was offered a scholarship and committed to swim for Indiana University, where she will begin competing as a Hoosier in September 2018. She has since moved to Bloomington, Ind., to spend her senior year of high school training at the university.

“Five years ago I was asked to coach Julia Wolf by her father Jay at the Paseo Club,” Dahowski said, adding that Wolf was one of three original swimmers he agreed to coach.

“I accepted this large challenge never having coached swimming before,” he said. “But being a swimmer I knew what it took to be a top competitor. To say what Julia has accomplished by being selected for Junior National Camp in such a short amount of time is rare would be a huge understatement.

“I am proud of Julia and honored we shared many years together grinding out practice after practice,” Dahowski said. “I look forward to being a part of her next journey at the collegiate level. As of right, now I’m solely focused on the athletes in our program and the ones currently in front of me; always wondering, who’s next? Who am I going to get there next? Dreams, they are powerful to say the least.”