Born deaf, Cronk said she’s been swimming since she was two. The 16-year-old is a solid student and swimmer at Churchill High School.
SAN ANTONIO — While most try to figure out how she does it, Carli Cronk keeps racking up the swimming honors.
The audio, or lack thereof, between Carli Cronk’s ears is the only sound she has known her entire life.
“I don’t know what it’s like to be hearing. So this is my normal world. How you grew up is how I grew up,” Cronk said. “Maybe I just had a few more audiology appointments, and other people don’t have that.”
Born deaf, Cronk said she’s been swimming since she was two. The 16-year-old is a solid student and swimmer at Churchill High School, dreaming of taking strokes in the 2028 Olympics.
“I’ve had people doubt me, but I have shown them don’t doubt me. I have overcome what they have said about me,” Cronk said.
Her sister and brother were swimmers too. Cronk played various sports, but it was swimming where she found her lane.
“Just the teammates, the team…Like the culture was so much better than soccer,” she said. “I could not imagine not swimming.”
Churchill Aquatics Coach Mark Jedow had an eye on her before she joined his team.
“She’s one of the few you get every few years coming through the programs.”
Jedow said he’d watched her blossom over the past three years into one tough competitor.
Cronk said she could do all the events in swimming but felt being a flyer and a freestyler is where she feels most comfortable.
Jedow said Cronk is a well-rounded swimmer.
“Her dedication,” he said. “Her ability to overcome obstacles.”
Doubt from others, working on perfection in the pool and trying to overcome being hearing impaired in an event filled with noise are a few of those obstacles. Cronk considered leaving swimming at one point.
“It gets hard. I mean, I’m not able to hear four hours a day because I’m in the water, and I’m not able to wear my hearing aids,” Cronk said. “And it gets hard sometimes because you want to be able to hear your teammates. You want to be able to talk to them.”
Sometimes missing meet cues is an issue.
“We have an accommodation system where we actually have a strobe that’s right next to her block,” Jedow said. “So you’re kind of like having to watch also on your peripheral to see the rest of the field going in. You’re going with them as well.”
Aside from CHS, Cronk competes separately for hearing-impaired competitions like the Deaflympics. Her performance was spot-on in Brazil last summer, and Cronk won a gold medal in every event she competed in, and her spoils were 12 gold medals in team and individual races.
In the meantime, the junior is preparing to wrap up high school in a year and is committed to swimming for Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish.
“They’ve said that I can’t do this. I can’t do that,” Cronk said. “But I’ve shown them that I can.”
In the meantime, the junior is preparing to wrap up high school in a year and is committed to swimming for Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish.
“They’ve said that I can’t do this. I can’t do that,” Cronk said. “But I’ve shown them that I can.”