Vineland High School Class of 2013 graduate Rachel Bernhardt was one of 94 athletes named September 12 to the official 2023-24 USA Swimming National Team roster.
Each September, USA Swimming releases the following season's national team roster, which consists of the athletes who achieve the Top 6 performances in each Olympic event during the primary racing season (in 2023, it was January 1 through September 9).
Bernhardt, 28, earned her spot on the team with the 1:07.38 she achieved in the 100-meter breaststroke on her way to a fifth-place finish at the US National Championships in Indianapolis this past June. That time ended up landing Bernhardt 51st in the 2023 FINA World Aquatics Women's 100 breaststroke rankings.
National Team membership is a tremendous accomplishment; USA Swimming National Team Managing Director Lindsey Mintenko was quoted in a press release that the "2023-24 National Team roster truly showcases the depth in American swimming," and that a "young group of emerging swimmers will learn from veteran leaders as athletes prepare for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and the Olympic Games next summer."
The perks of National Team membership, which include (according to SwimSwam.com) "Elite Direct Athlete Health Insurance, travel assistance to national meets and access to the Olympic Training Center [in Colorado Springs]," will be particularly beneficial for these athletes in the lead up to Olympic Trials.
Bernhardt was a three-time NISCA 1st-Team All-American while at VHS and still holds six school records. She received a athletic scholarship to Drexel University where she won multiple Colonial Athletic Association individual conference championships and Women's Swimmer of the Year honors. She twice qualified for the incredibly selective NCAA Division 1 Championships and earned honorable mention All-America honors as a senior in 2017. She also represented Drexel at the 2016 US Olympic Team Trials.
After graduating from Drexel, Bernhardt attended Lenoir Rhyne University to pursue her degree as an Occupational Therapist while competing with the Gamecock Aquatics pro group at the University of South Carolina. She has since been a regular attendee at TYR Pro Series Competitions and other USA Swimming national competitions and again competed at the US Olympic Team Trials in 2021, earning a finals spot in the 200-meter breaststroke, where she finished 8th.
Bernhardt is currently training with and representing Team Charlotte, based out of Queens University in North Carolina. She works as an Occupational Therapist at CaroMont Hospital in Gastonia, N.C., and on Labor Day weekend married her fiance, Ted Dickerson.