Metamora to honor Olympic silver medalist Anna Peplowski on Friday

METAMORA, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Metamora is ready to party.

Olympic silver medalist Anna Peplowski is coming home and her hometown is ready to celebrate. Metamora High School will host a rally for Peplowski on Friday from 6-8 p.m.

Peplowski won a silver medal as part of the USA 4×200 relay team in Paris earlier this month. She will be at the rally speaking, signing autographs and posing for photos.

The event is free.

Her family has returned home from the Olympics where they spent some time sightseeing after Peplowski competed for Team USA.

“She’d get recognized (on the street) and she’d say, ‘Dad, you set that up!’ I didn’t set it up. She was recognized by her face or maybe the uniform she was wearing,” said Doug Peplowski, Anna’s father.

Anna is getting ready to return to the Indiana University where she will be a swimmer. She helped the Hoosiers win the Big Ten Swim Championship in March.

Her father says it’s been a grueling summer for his daughter.

“She had to pace herself emotionally. There are a lot of highs, a lot of lows. You’re trying to train, there’s a lot of media events, a lot going on,” Doug Peplowski said. “So staying focused sometimes is hard. You have to be balanced emotionally as well. It’s been a long month and a half since the (Olympic) Trials.”

The “welcome home” event is free at the high school on Friday.

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