Cooper Zugelder is hungry for more.
In each of his first two years with Lockport, Zugelder reached the state qualifier but had more work to do. One year ago, he finished 12th in two relay events and individually in the 200 IM, his favorite event. But he wanted to turn his personal complacency into bringing home some hardware.
In order to do so, Zugelder had to build his endurance by hitting the weights. Now, he’s hoping the extra load will help him achieve his goal of making the cut for states. With the state qualifier nearly a month away, Zugelder is making progress in the heart of the Lions’ season.
The freshman has qualified in seven individual events for the Lions and all three relay teams, which, as of Thursday, are in the top-10 in the section. Of the seven solo swims, Zugelder has three top-10 finishes, including fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:01.90). Along with being ranked seventh in the 100 breast (1:04.92) and eighth in the 100 fly (55.48), Zugelder also ranks in the top-20 in the 100 back and 100, 200 and 500 free events.
The relation between increasing his cardio routine and producing faster times is no surprise to Zugelder. Whether it’s with the team and two-to-three times a week at his home gym,
Zugelder said the hours spent on himself is why he feels he has a strong chance of reaching states if he stays the course.
“I’ve been doing a lot of explosive stuff like calf raises, fast motion, some twitch (muscle) stuff (and) that’s been really helping my starts,” Zugelder said. “And I’ve noticed that I’m getting a lot further out in the pool, which is helping me really start races off strong and giving me a little more energy to finish.”
The 200 IM stands out to Zugelder due to his knowledge of the four strokes and caught his eye once he attended a camp at Lockport High School as a 5-year old. Three years later, Zugelder began swimming competitively when his father and Lockport’s current JV coach, Ron, told him to join the swim team at DeSales Catholic School.
Even with the 200 IM as his strong suit, Zugelder still takes the time to master all his events and monitors his progression. Whether it’s competing in the Niagara Frontier League or even with the Buffalo Area Aquatic Club, Zugelder said there’s a learning aspect with each event.
“I like to look back on my event progressions (and ask), ‘What can I do that was different that will help me go faster?’” Zugelder said. “It’s just a lot of familiarity. If you swim those events a lot, you kind of know how you’re going to feel. You know you’re going to swim and you just go to improve on that. It’s something that just comes with experience.”
Since bringing him onto varsity two years ago, Lockport head coach John Sullivan has also noticed Zugelder’s progression, starting with adding muscle strength and a growth in height. To support the speed training the Lions do, Sullivan said his swimmers, like Zugelder, have an aerobic element as well during practices. The approach ranges from power training to running stairs and using slam balls, instead of tracking a swimmer’s yardage like years ago.
Having the cardio training in his repertoire, Sullivan said, has only benefited Zugelder for the better through decreasing his fatigue and increasing his comfortability in the pool.
“As his strength increased, he’s able to handle those sprint races with a lot more confidence,” Sullivan said. “And he’s able to maintain his speed in his 200 and his 500 a lot longer before his body starts to (break down) in a race. … There’s no shortcuts. There’s no, you can’t skip steps here. It’s just got to keep building day after day.”
With three years left in his varsity career, Zugelder knows there’s a lot more events to come. But this year, Zugelder came to the realization he wants to commit to swimming full-time. Zugelder was on Lockport’s varsity volleyball team that won a Niagara Frontier League championship in November and had plans to play junior varsity lacrosse this spring.
The other sports, he noted, kept him in shape, but, after watching what other swimmers are doing, Zugelder said he wants to keep his focus on the pool instead of elsewhere.
“The top guys, they’re in the pool all the time,” Zugelder said. “And if you want to be one of those guys, you just have to be in all the time. That’s just the only way.”