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USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Cooper Zakorchemny from Fulton, Maryland, has committed to study and swim at Indiana University beginning the fall of 2026. Zakorchemny is a junior at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, and he trains year-round with Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club, both of which are located in Olney, MD.
“I am beyond excited to announce my verbal commitment to swim and study at Indiana University! I’d like to thank my family, coaches, teammates, and friends who have gotten me this far. I’d also like to thank Coach Ray, Coach Noelle, Coach Luke, and the rest of the IU swim family for this opportunity! GO HOOSIERS!!! ⚪️🔴⚪️🔴”
Zakorchemny made our “Best of the Rest” section of the Way Too Early list of top recruits from the high school class of 2026 for his distance freestyle performances. He also enjoys competing in open water. He placed 6th in the 16-17 7.5K at the 2024 Open Water Junior Nationals in Sarasota and 3rd in the Open 5K at the 2024 Eastern Zone Open Water Championships in Mamora, NJ.
In high school competition, Zakorchemny has been a consistent Washington Metropolitan Swim & Dive Championships (Metros) finalist in the 200 and 500 free. He placed 4th in the 500 free at Metros as a sophomore last season and he was also the Washington Metropolitan Private School Swimming & Diving champion in the 500 free (4:28.98). Zakorchemny has been named a Potomac Valley Swimming Scholar-Athlete in each of the last two years.
In club swimming, Zakorchemny represents RMSC yearly at the NCSA Spring and Summer Championships. At the 2024 Summer Championships in Indianapolis, he won the 800 free in 8:07.02, clearing the 2024 Olympic Trials standard by over 2 seconds. He also placed 3rd in the 400 free (3:57.00), 8th in the 1500 free (15:58.58), and was a finalist in the 200 free (1:54.40) and 400 IM (4:35.73). At the 2024 Spring Championships in Orlando, he finished in the top 16 in the 800/1500 free and in the top 24 in the 400/500 free.
Zakorchemny currently holds four RMSC team records and is part of a Potomac Valley LSC Resident record in the 15-16 800 free relay. He attended the 2023 USA Swimming National Select Camp last fall and has competed at 2023 Summer Juniors, 2023 U.S. Open, and 2024 PSS Knoxville. He was a 2023 Potomac Valley Swimming Outstanding Athlete Award winner.
Best SCY times:
- 1650 free – 15:24.11
- 1000 free – 9:11.43
- 500 free – 4:28.98
- 200 free – 1:42.26
- 400 IM – 4:04.27
- 200 back – 1:52.38
- 200 fly – 1:54.65
At Indiana, Zakorchemny will be joining what is shaping up to be one of the elite distance groups in college swimming, with future training partners Gabriel Manteufel (#2 in 2026) and Luke Ellis (#3 in 2025). Other Hoosier classmates will include Sam Wolf and Brody Engelstad. He will also be reunited with his RMSC-Olney teammate Toby Barnett, with whom he trained in the 2022-2023 season.
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