March 25, 2003

The 2003 NCAA Championships in Auburn, AL was quite an experience. It was incredible to watch swimmers break American and NCAA records. There were so many close races and ties for first place. I swam well, but my times were not what I expected. I will admit, I did not think it would be as hard as I thought to swim faster at NCAA. It is difficult to come off a meet like Big East and continue to improve your times. I realize that many other swimmers were in the same situation as I was; they all swam out of their minds at conference and did not swim up to par at NCAA. The meet itself was not nearly as fast as last year. If you look at the top times from the previous year, you will notice several swimmers struggled to improve their times. Even though I did not swim any best times, I did walk away with an All American status in the 500 freestyle and scored 6 points for Villanova. That is an amazing accomplishment.

My final swim was the mile and it went well. It was my second fastest time ever and it was only six seconds off my personal best. I went into the race with very few expectations, since it was only my fourth time to swim it. I went in placed 18th and finished 18th. I give credit to those swimmers who have been swimming the mile for years. In my opinion, it is the hardest race because it is so long. It is tough to step up and swim the mile on the final day of competition.

Next week, I head off to U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN with sophomore, Tori Delollo. I know what to expect for my third big meet in six weeks. I am confident that I will improve my long course meters times from last summer. I am hoping to qualify for Olympic Trials in a few events. Coach Rick Simpson and I discussed my resting strategy for big competitions; we both agreed that I swim better with minimal rest. My rest for NCAA was ten days, compared to Big East's four-day rest. Regardless, this has been my best swim season to date.