Tears of joy: Metamora grad Anna Peplowski ready to head to Olympics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Central Illinois will be represented in the Summer Olympics.

Germantown Hills native Anna Peplowski is getting ready to swim in Paris. The Indiana University senior-to-be was named to the U.S. Olympic swim team on Saturday night.

But she says it didn’t really hit her until she left the U.S. Olympic Trails in Indianapolis Monday morning and headed back to her college home.

“On my drive home from officially being down with processing and on-boarding stuff, it really hit me. I was driving home with one of my teammates (Mariah Denigan) who also made the (Olympic) team. We both started crying together,” said Peplowski. “Everything just kind of soaked in and we started to talk about what was coming up and what’s next moving forward. So it was a really good moment to share together.”

Peplowski, who was a three-time Big Ten champion this March, qualified for Team USA with a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle at the Olympic Trials last week. She’s slotted for a spot on the 4×200 freestyle relay in Paris.

The former Metamora High School state champion says she’s already heard from a lot of supporters in central Illinois.

“Just receiving all the support from back home means so much to me,” Peplowski said. “It just brings me back to my roots of being in Metamora, swimming back in the high school season, for the summer team (Bloomington Waves), everybody remembering me. It’s just the best, it’s really awesome.”

Last summer, the Hoosier All-American made the U.S. national team for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan, where she won a silver medal as part of the 4×200 relay team. The Paris Olympics are set for July 26-Aug. 11.

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