By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

(First of a series)

COOPER Graf was no Michael Phelps, but he got a share of the kind of attention given to pool superstars during the 12th FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Graf drew the crowd’s attention twice when he made record-breaking swims in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events.
On these occasions, the crowd cheered for the young swimmer, who battled much taller and older swimmers, pushing him to swim faster en route to posting new lifetime best swim records.
The Saipan International School student timed in at 10 minutes, 14.48 seconds in the 800m, eclipsing his 11:05.32 and is only 21 seconds from breaking the CNMI national record.
On the last day of the competition last Sunday, Graf put on another show, as he set a new LTBS in the 1500m freestyle swim with his time of 19:33.41. Graf’s previous LTB is 20:40.61.
The 1:07 drop in Cooper’s 1500m freestyle time was the largest drop of any swimmer in the world championship this year.
“The crowd definitely gave me an extra rush of adrenaline which helped me to drop my times. It was an amazing feeling when I finished the mile (1500) and the entire crowd was cheering for me,” said Cooper, who sprinted in the last 200m of the race to the roar of the crowd.
“All the adrenaline rushing through my body just made me feel great,” he added.
Aside from the 1500m and 800m freestyle swims, Graf also set new LTBS in the 400m free (4:57.26), 200m free (2:22.69) and 100m free (1:05.75). The only time he failed to set an LTB was in the 50m, when he timed in at 31.78 seconds, just 0.2 of a second behind his best time.
Overall, Cooper described his experience in the world championships as inspiring.
“I talked to one of the United States long distance swimmers, and he was very nice and supportive and told me to keep swimming and that he hopes to see me in future world championships,” Graf said.
Cooper’s mom, Linda added that a reporter from the Herald Sun noticed her son’s performance and told the young swimmer he did a great job.
“I also saw many star swimmers not only from the United States but from Australia, Japan, France, and Poland. It was cool to watch them set world records right in front of my eyes. I had seen Phelps set world records before, but never in person. It is way different than watching them on the TV. They are much taller in real life,” Cooper said.
“The experience is really amazing. We socialized with teams from other countries that were staying in our hotel whenever we ate. Some of the teams were from Poland, Aruba, China (Macau), Germany, Tahiti, the Marshalls, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Palau,” he added.
The next stop for Cooper is a tournament in Japan and the experience in Melbourne has given him the confidence to post more records.
“I hope that in the Japan meet I will continue to drop all of my times and hopefully get the 800 freestyle CNMI national record,” Cooper said.