York YMCA swimmer to race at Olympics for Grenada
Oreoluwa Cherebin had no idea what she was getting into with one phone call about two years ago. After graduating from high school in Grenada at age 16, she just wanted to find a place to train in the United States. So she called her aunt and uncle, Yvette and Haydn Hood, living in York County.
"Swimming is not very popular back home," said Cherebin, who goes by Ore`.
"I was looking for a way to further my swimming and get into a U.S. college."
During the last two years, Cherebin has been under consideration to swim at the Olympics for Grenada. The Grenada Olympic Committee has named her female sports personality of the year on multiple occasions, but it's important to understand Grenada is a small island nation in the south Caribbean Sea with a population of about 100,000. By comparison, York County has a population of about 430,000.
So when Yvette Hood went looking for a swimming team for her niece, everything seemed to fall into perfect place when she found a team with a national reputation not far from her home in the York Suburban School District.
"It was all coincidental, the York YMCA was just so close to their house," Cherebin said.
York YMCA director of swimming Michael Brooks has built a national power with the York YMCA Aquatic Club. He sent four teenagers from the club to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials this summer, and his club won the YMCA Short Course National Championships in April.
"I'll always remember my first day," Cherebin said about joining the York YMCA. "Michael was a bit scary, and the swimming program was hard."
Brooks had warned her, as he has with other new swimmers, that the first couple weeks it would feel as though she'd been "hit by a train."
"It was very true, even after the first few months," Cherebin said. "It was hard to adjust after what I was used to.
"At first I was in shock that I was training with people that were some of the fastest swimmers in the country. But as I got to know them I realized they are just very nice girls. It made them seem more human and gave me a different perspective. Now, it's like the swimming team has become my family. It was easy to make friends because I knew people at the Y. They became my main group of friends because we've spent so much time together."
Brooks added: "She's been with us and a full part of the team. And it's been really nice to have her. It gives us a little bit of an international flavor."
Cherebin has had some struggles during her year with the York YMCA. She needed to switch from a visitor's visa to a student visa, meaning she had to file all the correct paperwork then fly to Barbados since Grenada does not have a visa-issuing station.
"That's been a bit of frustration for her and a stress for her," Brooks said.
But it has worked out.
A couple weeks ago she learned in a phone call from her mother that she will swim for Grenada at the Summer Games in Rio. She will be one of just two members of her nation's Olympic swim team.
Then in the fall she will enroll at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she will major in chemistry and race for the Stags' Division I swimming team.
As for that York YMCA coach, the one who seemed a "little scary"? Cherebin credits Brooks with helping her decide to swim the 100-meter butterfly at the Olympics instead of the breaststroke.
"Michael just knows how to train you, he's just very educated, one of the best coaches I've ever encountered," Cherebin said. "He knows what will make you faster, stronger and better."
Cherebin expected to fly home to Grenada on Sunday. She will spend 11 days with her family before arriving in Rio.
"It hasn't set in yet," Cherebin said about earning a spot at the Olympics.
Cherebin's career-best time in the 100 fly is 1 minute, 8.82 seconds. She does not expect to advance beyond the preliminaries, considering all eight finalists at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials posted times under a minute in the event.
"There are a lot of people not making the finals," Cherebin said. "It's all about going to represent your country and representing your country in the best way you can."
So she wants to swim her best time, even if it won't result in a gold medal.
"I'm looking forward to watching all the swimming races ... I'm excited to represent my country, do my best and swim my heart out."