Surprisingly, the fastest backstroke split from the women’s 200 Medley Relay tonight at the AT&T Winter Nationals in Atlanta was swum in heat 1 of 2 by Canyons Aquatic Club’s Isabella Arcila. Though Arcila is new to wearing the Canyons swim cap, sprinting backstroke is much more familiar to the Colombian Olympian.
Isabella swam for the SMU Mustangs through 2015, capping off her senior campaign with multiple AAC records as well as a women’s conference championship title. (At that meet, she led off the winning SMU 200 medley relay in 24.7, .2 slower than what she split tonight). After her time with the Mustangs, she moved to LA and entrusted her Olympic preparation with Canyons Aquatics’ Coley Stickels, who was at the time also preparing Abbey Weitzel for the Games, both of which made the team for their respective countries. Arcila was the lone female swimmer for Colombia in Rio, competing in the 50 freestyle and ending up 30th in prelims with a 25.35.
Currently, Isabella is still training with Canyons, and her enjoyment of the sport can be seen by her stellar performances. After this weekend in Atlanta, she will be competing in the 2016 Short Course World Championships in Windsor. Arcila is swimming the 50-100 Back, and 50-100 Free.