Highland grad Raekwon Noel will swim for Guyana in the Olympics: ‘I’m proud of where I am’

In many ways, it often has been sink or swim for recent Highland High School graduate Raekwon Noel, who will compete in the Paris Olympics for his native Guyana.

But before he became a phenom who will compete at Indiana next year, Noel was a 4-year-old boy terrified yet fascinated by what lurked beneath.

“My dad actually just threw me in the pool,” said Noel, 18, sitting inside the South Jersey Aquatic Club in Voorhees, where he has trained since arriving in the U.S. as a sophomore.

“That’s why I am who I am today.”

The reason he’s headed to Paris, though, includes a journey that began with cramped quarters at home, a childhood filled with unaccompanied international travel, a fortuitous Google search that led to a surrogate family in the U.S., and the pursuit of an Olympic dream.

“I’m proud of where I am, who I am, and proud to be part of this SJAC program,” said Noel, who will compete in the 400-meter freestyle at the Paris Games.

“And I’m proud to say where my family is now,” he added. “We’re really grateful for everything we’ve gotten and everything we’ve been through, because all of these life lessons teach you, and I don’t think I’d be where I am without everyone who has touched my life.”

Noel was at a birthday party at a hotel in Guyana, a South American country on the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean, when his father, Ron DeRyck, tossed him into the water.

“We were at an Olympic-sized pool and he just threw me in and said, ‘You can do it,’” Noel said. “And I was like, ‘No way!’ I thought the black lines were snakes and I was like, ‘I’m not doing this.’ I held onto the wall the entire time and never pushed off …”

Still, he clung to the side for nearly an hour, perhaps equal parts scared and intrigued.

“I let go of the side for a second,” he said. “That’s when I realized I loved the water … that’s when I knew it was special.”

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Before long, he was, too.

Noel attended international competitions by age 7, but because his family could not afford to fly with him, he traveled alone, accompanied occasionally by a chaperone during flights..

Later, his mother, Ushaka Noel, lost her job at an airline that Noel said shuttered after a plane crash.

Eventually, they moved in with family into a home short on space yet long on love.

For years, Noel and his mother shared the bottom of a bunk bed, while his uncle slept on the top.

“It was just rough growing up,” Noel said. “I didn’t realize how rough it was because, from a kid’s perspective, anything I wanted, I would get. I used to beg to go to the pool to practice, but not all the time we would have gas to get there.”

His grandmother, Dawn Noel, he said, sacrificed, and at times was the only person working in the household.

“Swimming was an escape,” he said. “I’m happy to say that nothing messed with my progress. Life has ups and downs, and I’m proud to say I’m currently in one of the up eras.”

If Noel becomes the next great Olympic swimmer, it might behoove Google to become an early sponsor.

The search engine already assisted Noel’s first fateful connection after he moved to New Jersey. SJAC topped the list of options the first time Noel typed “swim places near me.”

Long before Peter Holcroft coached Noel at Next Level Aquatic Center in Voorhees, Holcroft was a peculiar fourth-grader who wanted to own a swimming facility. About eight years ago, his and two other families took over NLAC.

“If you talked to teachers [back then] they would laugh and say, ‘Oh, yeah, this is Peter. He wants to own his own building,’” said Holcroft, who later became a standout swimmer at Rancocas Valley and Delaware.

Holcroft’s parents put their sons in swim classes so they would be “water-safe” while the family spent time in Ocean City.

Holcroft and his older brother Tim eventually swam competitively at Delaware. A few years ago, Tim, who had been an executive at a well-known bank, quit to become an instructor at SJAC.

Now, Holcroft and his wife Kristen, who once produced reality television, help run SJAC, which has more than 300 swimmers.

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“Like Raekwon,” Holcroft said, “I just fell in love with swimming.”

If fate brought them together, Noel’s talent cemented their coaching relationship. But his personality, Holcroft said, turned their bond into something special.

“He’s an amazing young man,” Holcroft said. “Raekwon is blessed. He has a gift.

“He is as talented as you’re going to find. How far you go is based on your work ethic, and he has that. I don’t have to ask him to clean up the deck. He’s the first one cleaning up. Not all superstars are like that.”

But stardom doesn’t come without consequences.

Noel, who was born in New York and moved to Guyana as an infant, owns 12 national swimming records in Guyana.

“When you leave and come back,” Noel said of Guyana, “you see how special and great the culture is. I’m just really proud to be part of it and to represent them. They are really special people.”

In 2023, which he calls his breakout year, Noel won five gold medals at the Caribbean Free Trade Association Games in Curaçao. Afterward, an online publication dubbed him “The Golden Child.”

But after he and another swimmer didn’t reach the finals at an event last year, “failed” appeared in an article’s headline.

“It’s hard to put that amount of pressure on a child,” Noel said. “I’m sort of feeling that pressure now just because you’re going to the Olympics, and [there are expectations].”

Holcroft initially was unaware of the pressure Noel faced in Guyana. Perhaps that’s because Noel made friends quickly and says he adjusted easily to life in America. Making friends, Noel added, likely was easier after he became a dominant swimmer at Highland, where he owns various school records.

But pressure in Guyana weighed on him.

“There’s a lot of social media that puts pressure on him,” Holcroft said. “Raekwon has taught me a valuable lesson that sometimes you have to ask your swimmers, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’”

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Perhaps that’s why Noel asked Holcroft to accompany him to Paris.

“This is literally my family for the rest of my life, no matter what happens,” Noel said of Holcroft. “Pete is like my second dad. I can go to him for anything and everything. And I’m really thankful for everything he’s done for me.”

The feeling, it seems, is mutual.

“I’m so happy that Raekwon allowed me to piggyback off his dream,” Holcroft said. “It’s been a pleasure to coach such an awesome young man and to have one final meet together, and for it be the Olympics is great.”