Swim-Off Win over Friend Catie DeLoof Leaves Erika Connolly ‘In Shock,’ an Olympian

Erika Connolly -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Swim-Off Win over Friend Catie DeLoof Leaves Erika Connolly ‘In Shock,’ an Olympian

The two swimmers sprinted toward the finish in a 100-meter freestyle tie-breaker, a two-woman race that would almost certainly send one to the Olympics and send the other home. Catie DeLoof was in lane five, Erika (Brown) Connolly in lane four, both swimmers trying to return to the Olympics after swimming on the 400 free relay four years ago. DeLoof had the lead charging for home, but Connolly had just enough finishing speed to overcome DeLoof by four hundredths.

As he watched poolside and saw the times flash on the scoreboard, University of Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich experienced elation and emptiness, pride and devastation. He had coached both DeLoof and Connolly, who are close friends and were roommates at the Tokyo Games three years ago. Kredich had about 17 hours to prepare for this moment of emotional conflict, and he still had no idea how to react.

“I still can’t explain it,” Kredich said. “I had to keep myself from sobbing. It’s possible to hold both (joy and sadness) at once, and I think I just experienced it, and I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.”

If only there were any other way to settle this tie, Kredich wondered. He heard a rumor there would be no swim-off, that the tie would be broken through a formula outlined in the USA Swimming selection procedures. Kredich would have been pleased with that, but the guidelines called for a further race to sort it out.

“We spent some time last night if it was even arguable to take seven, but the selection procedures are written pretty clearly. This was the recourse,” Kredich said. He spoke with Kacie Wallace, a USOPC athlete ombuds who Kredich had known since childhood. “She came up right away and said, ‘What do you need?’ I said, ‘Help me find a world in which the two of them can go.’ She stayed up late and said, ‘Can’t happen.’”

Connolly was perhaps the least likely swimmer to find herself in that situation at all. A back injury in early 2023 took six months to recover from, and she placed 25th in prelims at U.S. Nationals last year, 1.5 seconds of her best time. At Trials, she barely snuck into the 100 free semifinals with a 16th-place finish, and then she had to win a swim-off against Anna Moesch to qualify for the final. And then this swim-off, her fifth 100-meter race in just over 48 hours.

But given her friendship with DeLoof, Connolly never felt much better than her coach about the situation.

“I was celebrating for about one second, and then I saw I tied with Catie,” Connolly said. “I just love her so much, so I knew that I was going to be really hard. That’s the sport. You just have to be competitive and not let things get to you. We can still have a great friendship no matter what happened out there.”

In an eight-swimmer ready room, Connolly and DeLoof might have been each other’s confidants amid the fierce competition. This time, it was just the duo, their goals directly juxtaposed.

Following the swim-off, Connolly’s spot in Paris is a near certainty, with the U.S. women’s team having already achieved half the doubles needed to ensure that all borderline relay qualifiers will be added. Yet she walked off the pool deck disappointed for her teammate and friend.

“I envisioned myself going to the Olympics with Catie,” Connolly said. “That’s hard. I feel for her. But I’m also very excited and a bit in shock because the last 48 hours have been crazy.”

As Connolly descended the temporary staircase from the pool deck toward the athlete prep area, Kredich found her, and the two shared a long embrace. Connolly credited her coach for helping her through her injury, her emotional challenges in the aftermath and the struggle to return to her best. Last August, Kredich lost his son, Ben Kredich, in a hit-and-run, and Connolly experienced that pain as well, having developed an especially close bond with the younger Kredich.

“It’s really special. There have been many points in the last year and a half where I felt it was time for me to be done, but my faith is really important to me, and I felt that the Lord was telling me to keep going,” Connolly said. “Matt has really worked alongside of me through all those struggles, so he feels those emotions like I do.”

Both Connolly and DeLoof will race the 50 free at the conclusion of the meet, but it’s tough to imagine either’s Olympic fate changing at this point. As Kredich feels DeLoof’s pain, he takes solace in knowing she will emerge stronger on the other side of coming excruciatingly close to the Paris team.

“I prepared for two scenarios, each one winning,” Kredich said. “But in each of those scenarios, I thought the one that gets beat is not only going to be OK, they’ll figure out how to take this experience, carry it with them and be better for it. I know Catie will. Erika wants to be elated, but she wanted to go the Olympics with her friend. I hope everybody appreciates what these people put into it and how much it means to them.”

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