By RICHIE HALL
Claire Adams finished up her scholastic swimming career this March when she completed her senior season at the University of Texas.
And what a career it was for the Carmel graduate. Adams was a dominant force in the Big 12 conference and a multiple All-American swimmer at the NCAA tournament.
Local swim fans remember Adams as the first-ever 16-time state champion at the IHSAA swim meet. Adams won the maximum four events in all four years of participating at state, 2013-2016. That’s a record that can never be broken, only equaled. She also won the Mental Attitude Award in 2016, at the end of her senior season.
After that, it was off to Austin, Texas to swim for the Longhorns. Adams had already achieved quite a bit of success by the time she got to college, so she didn’t wander into the Texas pool naïve about competing on a national scale. As a member of the Carmel Swim Club, Adams was used to national meets.
“I am very fortunate to have experienced national competitions from a young age as I was able to learn how to navigate those spaces early on,” said Adams. “Having experiences swimming with world class athletes was humbling and eye-opening whether I was 13 years old or 20.”
Adams said the biggest differences regarding college swimming come “outside of the pool.” She said that while the training changes from high school to college, the added responsibilities of “being a young adult are what make college training more taxing.”
Yet she was able to handle those new responsibilities well. Adams was named to the 2016-17 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team in her freshman year. She is also a three-time College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American, receiving that honor during each of her first three years as a Longhorn. (The Scholar All-American list for the 2019-20 season will be announced on June 30.)
Then of course, there is the swimming. Adams is a 24-time champion in the Big 12 tournament. That includes going seven for seven in the conference meet for her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. She also won three events her freshman year, and was the runner-up in three more that season.
Adams was part of the winning 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays during all four years at Texas. During her sophomore, junior and senior seasons, Adams added four more conference championships: She was the winner of the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle, then participated on the first-place 200 and 400 medley relays.
At the NCAA Championships, Adams earned All-American honors 11 times and was honorable mention All-American eight more times. Six of those All-American races came during her sophomore year, when she swam on all five Longhorns relays that finished in the top eight. Adams also placed seventh in the backstroke that year. Her best finishes at the NCAA Championships came during her freshman year, when she was part of the fourth-place 800 free relay; Adams then matched that her junior year when she swam on the fourth-place 400 free relay squad.
Unfortunately, Adams didn’t get a chance to try to add to her impressive NCAA total, as the national swimming and diving championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But even so, Adams got quite a bit accomplished during the previous three years.
“I am so grateful for the opportunities swimming has provided me over my time as both a club and college swimmer,” said Adams. “I am bummed that my college swimming career ended the way it did but I am grateful to be supported by amazing friends and family, to be staying healthy, and spending time relaxing. I never thought this would be the situation I would find myself in, but I know I poured my heart into the team and gave it all I had.”
Adams graduated from Texas a semester early, in December 2019, with a degree in Youth & Community Studies. With all of the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, Adams is unsure about continuing her swimming career, which would include attempting to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, which have been pushed back to 2021.
“I am currently completing a three-semester teacher certification program at Texas,” said Adams. “I still have two semesters left. With so many unknowns about school and sports I do not feel that I have all the information I need to be able to decide if I want to continue with swimming.”
Education is important to Adams. On Friday, she received the Texas Athletics – College Football Playoff Foundation Postgraduate Teacher Certification Scholarship, which, according to a release on the Texas Sports website, is designed to “financially support student-athletes who have exhausted athletic eligibility and completed an undergraduate degree, but want to pursue teacher certification.”
“I have known I have a passion for teaching from a young age,” said Adams in the release. “When I earned the opportunity to swim for Texas, I knew I was going to a school that would support my teaching dreams.”
Once she is finished with the teacher certification program, Adams will be certified to teach kindergarten through sixth grade.
“For now, I want to get a few years of teaching under my belt and then return to school for a masters in cultural studies in education,” said Adams. “Long term, I would like to work in the education system, potentially creating curriculum.”