Twelve-year-old swimmer Kara Kopcso shined like a bright star at the Southern Zone Championships in Atlanta recently, earning three gold medals at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, the 1996 Olympic Games swimming venue.

“I had an amazing performance in Atlanta,” Kopcso said. “It was one of my better meets. I was extremely nervous at the start, racing against such tough competition, until I got into the pool. The level of competition was so much stronger than I have gone against in the past.”

The Fontainebleau Junior High eighth-grader said she began swimming at age 3 before becoming a year round swimmer at age 8.

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Kopcso, competing in the 11- to 12-year-old age group, captured the gold in the 100 butterfly, tying the Southern Zone record with a swim of 1:04.75 and giving her the top time in the nation this year. She also won the 200-meter individual medley (2:25.69) and the 400-meter freestyle (4:31.49).

“After winning the 100 butterfly in record tying time, I felt like I would have a good meet. My short course and long course races this year have been some of my high points in my swimming career,” she said.

Kopcso swims for the BLAST, which is in its third year and is coached by Emmett Smith.

“Kara has the necessary tools to be competitive on a national level as long as she continues to be as motivated and dedicated to the sport as she currently is,” Smith said. “She is a very down to earth youngster who has a very impressive workout ethic.”

Kopcso said the experience of competing at last year’s Zones, held at the University of Texas, helped prepare her for this year’s event in Atlanta, held July 28 through Aug. 3.

Smith said Kopcso has worked really hard during the past year gearing up for the Zone Championships.

“We put a plan in place to put her in a position to succeed at this year’s Zone Championships. Kara is very fortunate to have talented teammates who push her every day in practice to help her reach her goals,” Smith added.

Kopcso said when she’s not in the pool practicing, she just likes to relax.

“I enjoy doing lots of things with my family and friends. I enjoy wake boarding with my cousins and fishing. I also like to go four wheeling,” she said.

Kopcso competed along with 12 other Northshore swimmers representing three local swim clubs, BLAST, FINS and Hurricanes. Kopcso helped her Louisiana teammates to an eighth-place finish totaling 248 points, taking its top finish in the last seven years. Louisiana swimmers earned six gold medals, two silver medals and five bronze medals.

Six swimmers represented the BLAST, Kopcso, her 16-year-old sister Jessica, Alex Cloutet, Andrew Knudsen, Kristen Jennings and Brooke Vinturella. The three FINS’ swimmers included Cole Chance, Jonna Rose Frantz and Walter Loop. The four Hurricanes’ swimmers were Cassandra Cloutet, Claire Donovan, Natalie Newcomb and Heather Winn.

Florida Swimming captured first place with a total of 1,036 points, followed by Georgia Swimming (776.5) and Florida Gold Coast (717). Southeastern captured fourth (658.5) followed by North Carolina (641), Gulf Swimming (566.5); South Carolina (316.5); Louisiana; Kentucky (238.5) and South Texas (97).

Some states have only one Local Swimming Committee, while larger states have multiple LSCs like Texas and Florida. Louisiana is one of the smallest LSCs, with only 1,800 swimmers.

By contrast, Florida swimming is one of the largest with 10,000. Florida Gold Coast, which only encompasses the Southern tip of Florida (the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area), has 6,000 swimmers.

Robby Fritscher served as the Louisiana Zone head coach, finishing his fourth year in that capacity. Fritscher is the Franco’s Fins head coach and aquatics director. Fritscher was assisted by Ed Kelly (Hurricane Swim Club head coach and general chair of Louisiana swimming); assistant coach Matt Leach (Tiger Aquatics Club assistant coach); Kier McGuire (Crescent City Swim Club assistant coach); team manager Sarah Landreneau (City of Lafayette Aquatics assistant coach) and team coordinator Courtney Roedel (Crawfish Aquatics assistant coach). Fritscher said the coaches have done a good job during the past couple of years sending their top swimmers to the Southern Zone Championships.

“Our swimmers did a great job. The team came together, cheering and supporting each other. They helped each other achieve. It was a positive atmosphere with a lot of teamwork,” Fritscher said.

“Kara (Kopcso) really rose up and did an exceptional job. It is an incredible achievement for Kara to be a multiple winner at that tough level of competition.”

Kelly, who founded the Hurricane Swim Club 30 years ago (swimmers train at Cross Gates Athletic Club in Slidell), said he is proud of the Louisiana swimmers, who did an exceptional job.

“Not only did we have some top notch individual performances, but we also had strong performances from some of our relay teams. After finishing 12th last year, we improved four positions to eighth, which was a good showing,” Kelly said.

“Realistically, to be able to bring a team together in such a short period of time from throughout the state is a compliment to the coaches and the swimmers. Without question, the coaches did a good job preparing the athletes. Our coaches represented the state really well by motivating the swimmers to do their best.”

Results for Louisiana swimmers:

Girls 11-12:

3K Open Water: 3. Kara Kopcso, 42:01.27

200-Meter Freestyle: 3. Kopcso, 2:10.69

400-Meter Freestyle: 1. Kopcso, 4:31.49

100-Meter Backstroke: 7. Kristen Jennings, 1:11.88

50-Meter Breaststroke: 9. Alex Cloutet, 38.15

100-Meter Breaststroke: 7. Cloutet, 1:22.62

100-Meter Butterfly: 1. Kopcso, 1:04.75 (tied Southern Zone record)

200-Meter Individual Medley: 1. Kopcso, 2:25.69

200-Meter Freestyle Relay: 8. H. Dorsett, B. Vinturella, K. Kopcso and V. Padial, 1:58.91

Boys 11-12

50-Meter Freestyle: 7. Brandon Klibert, 27.63

50-Meter Backstroke: 3. Klibert, 30.95

200-Meter Freestyle Relay: 9. Klibert, Z. Harrison, A. Knudsen and N. Guidry,1:57.92

200-Meter Medley Relay: 9. Klibert, N. Guidry, A. Knudsen and Z. Harrison), 2:13.56

Girls 13-14

100-Meter Butterfly: 1. Smacker Miles, 1:04.89

200-Meter Butterfly: 8. Miles, 2:24.68

200-Meter Individual Medley: 9. Miles, 2:28.22

400-Meter Individual Medley: 3. Miles, 5:07.04

Girls 13-14

100-Meter Backstroke: 6. Grant Grenfell, 1:02.58

200-Meter Backstroke: 5. Grenfell, 2:15.60

100-Meter Butterfly: 7. Grenfell, 1:00.18

200-Meter Individual Medley: 9. Grenfell, 2:18.31

200-Meter Freestyle Relay: 7. Grenfell, P. Stewart, D. Rykosky and A. Melcher, 1:45.86

Girls 15 & Over

5K Open Water: 8. Aimmee Richard, 1:12:17.34; 9. Cassandra Cloutet, 1:12:57.64

400-Meter Freestyle: 6. Heather Winn, 4:29.19

100-Meter Breaststroke: 10. Natalie Newcomb, 1:17.98

200-Meter Breaststroke: 6. Jessica Kopcso, 2:44.28

200-Meter Freestyle Relay: 8. Cloutet, A. Aranda, H. Winn and C. Donovan, 1:54.18

200-Meter Medley Relay: 10. C. Russell, J. Kopcso, Cloutet and Donovan, 2:07.56

Boys 15 & Over

5K Open Water: 2. Brian Carr, 1:04:43.48

50-Meter Freestyle: 3. Marc Dorsey, 24.68

400-Meter Freestyle: 6. Carr, 4:09.81

1500-Meter Freestyle: 9. Carr, 16:32.18

100-Meter Backstroke: 4. Brock Davis, 1:00.61; 7. Ross Olivier, 1:01.36; 9. Dorsey, 1:01.54

200-Meter Backstroke: 5. Carr, 2:10.87; 7. Davis, 2:12.07

100-Meter Breaststroke: 1. Mark Schindler, 1:05.81

200-Meter Breaststroke: 1. Schindler, 2:22.40; 7. Walter Loop, 2:31.12

200-Meter Freestyle Relay: 5. Dorsey, Schindler, Riess and Olivier, 1:38.90

200-Meter Medley Relay: 2. Dorsey, Schindler, Riess and Olivier, 1:49.69