Artem Rogachev, Urbana High School

Background: When did you start swimming? How did you get started swimming? What teams have you swam with?

My Dad taught me how to swim when I was 7. When I was in 5th grade, I swam on our school summer team in Japan. In Russia, I was on a competitive team for a few months before I came to the United States and joined Aquachiefs during the summer of 2001. I was then 11.

Are you excited about your final year of swimming with Urbana High School and the Aquachiefs? What are your swimming goals for the year?

Yes. I am very excited for High School States. It is by far the most exciting meet that I have ever been to. The amount of people and the loudness of the place is very motivating and would make anyone�s adrenaline pump strongly. My main goal is to place as high as possible at High School State. Unfortunately, I had some obstacles this season so I don�t know how fast I will swim. I do feel good now, so my mood is optimistic. I would be happy with a top three finish.

Where will you go to college? Do you plan to swim? What do you plan to major in?

I applied regular decision, so I still have not found out where I have been accepted. I hope that I will be accepted to MIT (Massachusettes Institute of Technology). I would love to swim in college, but if I end up attending UI swimming would not be an option. For this reason, I am giving it everything I have this year. Currently, I plan to major in Electrical Engineering.

What have you learned from swimming?

I can really write a lot on this subject, because it was my biggest extracurricular activity. I�ll try to be short. Swimming made me a lot tougher mentally and physically. Also swimming made me believe in myself as well as teaching me to set goals, figuring out a plan that would help me achieve these goals, and finally sticking to the plan. Also I learned to not give up early. The process of swimming slow during the main season to swim faster after the taper taught me to accept short term loss for a long term gain. Everyone seems to say time-management for this question; I guess I�ll add it as well. Although it is not at the top of the list. Finally, swimming was just a fun experience thanks to the many wonderful teammates that I had both on Aquachiefs and High School.

What is your favorite swimming memory?

JOs in 2004 were very fun. However, I would have to say last year�s IHSA State Finals is my favorite memory. I dropped a second after a great performance the day before and felt as though my body was doing things that I did not think possible.

What is your favorite event? Least favorite event?

My favorite event is the 200IM. There are three reasons for it. For one thing, it is my best event. Also, I love diversity in my life and love to alternate strokes while I am swimming. Finally, the 200 is my favorite distance. It is not short to a point where you are just spinning your arms as fast as you can, but it is also not long to a point where your are dying and falling apart.
My least favorite event is harder to select, because there are a lot of them. First of all I don�t like the 400 IM, because it is too long. I�ve never swum the mile, but it would probably be on the list as well. Finally, I hate the 50 fly that I have to do on our High School Relay all the time. For one thing, I am horrible at it. Guys that are as fast as me in the 100 fly beat me by more than a second in the 50. When I swim the 50 fly I just feel as though I am powering through and lose the feel of the water.

What's your favorite movie? Favorite food? Favorite place?

Movie- I really don�t have one. I hardly ever watch movies twice, because I don�t want to watch the movie once I know the ending. Now that I think about my favorite movie is the Lord of the Rings with Russian sound, which by the way is not a translation, but something purely comical. I�ve watched this one multiple times. This is where �mochi kazlov� comes from.
Food- I really like Japanese and Korean food. For these cultures, food is an art, which they seem to have perfected.
Place- I don�t really have one. I like to visit new places rather than going back to the same place every time.

What 3 people would you invite to dinner?

Maybe the JO squad of Jonny Vimr, Mike Lacine, and Robby Miles.

Tell us something about yourself that people might find surprising or interesting.

I was born in Russia and lived in Japan. Also, I take Japanese at UI. Finally, I love to compete in physics and math contests.