Szymanski qualifies
for Olympic trials

By Jessica Edwards

Swimmer Genny Szymanski has qualified for the Olympic trials, a first for a Haines athlete.

Szymanski, a 19-year-old junior at Northwestern University, swam the 200-meter backstroke in 2:16:55, taking third in a field of nine at a post-NCAA championship swim meet time trial last month, and falling easily below the trial’s cut time of 2:17:99.

She’ll journey to Omaha, Neb., this June to swim with the country’s fastest athletes in hopes of earning a trip to represent the U.S. at the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

"This is my one shot for the team," she said, adding that she didn’t see herself training for the 2012 games, two years after she graduates. "It will be so exciting."

Szymanski is realistic about her chances. She said although she didn’t think her times were fast enough to make finals at the Olympic trials, she would swim hard to improve her best time, and hoped to make the second round. She’s looking forward to the experience.

Northwestern’s assistant women’s coach Nicole Ellis said while Szymanski probably had a .001 percent chance of making the Olympics, the young swimmer had shown great tenacity when presented with a goal. "You never know," Ellis said. "She may come closer than anyone expects."

Ellis said after making the cut for NCAA, Szymanski asked to resume training right away. Many swimmers would have taken a week off, she said. "That’s the best part about Genny."

Ellis said her goal for Szymanski at the trials is a time of 2:14:00, more than two seconds faster than her qualifying time. "It’s very attainable."

Although there is no cutoff time at the trials, only the top two backstrokers make the Olympic team after three rounds of eliminations. The fastest 200 meter backstroke qualifying time posted for the trials was 2:07:16 as of April 9. Current world record holder and defending Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe on April 11 broke the world record for the event with a time of 2:03:69. Coventry won the Olympic gold in 2004 in 2:09:19.

Setting goals had been important to Szymanski’s success in the past year, Ellis said. A goal at the beginning of the year had been to make the NCAA championship meet, which Szymanski narrowly missed last year.

"All year, we were training (for Big Tens) as if 1:58:00 was the time to make the cut," Ellis said. (The Olympic event is measured in meters; at college meets, Szymanski’s event is the 200-yard backstroke.)

With four weeks to go, Ellis realized this wouldn’t be fast enough to make the NCAA meet. Ellis told Szymanski she would have to swim 1:57:00. "Mentally, she had to regroup." Szymanski responded with a record-breaking 1:57:05 swim at the Big Ten championship meet, a time fast enough to both qualify her for the NCAA championships and to give her confidence that she was fast enough to make the Olympic trials.

Szymanski didn’t top her best time at the NCAA championship meet in March, where she swam the 200-yard back in 1:57:44 and placed 23rd. Northwestern took 19th at the meet, a best for the program since 2000.

Seven swimmers on the Northwestern team, including Szymanski, have qualified for the Olympic trials. For them, training continues in earnest. "We’re training like we’re all going to make the Olympics," she said.

Szymanski said coaches switched the lanes in the pools from a short to a long course in preparation for the trials. She explained a short course, the standard college competition length of 25 yards, was set in the rectangle perpendicular to the long side of the pool. Setting a long course of 50 meters meant running lanes parallel to the pool’s long side.

Swimming the long course helped build stamina, Szymanski said. "You get tired easily because you rest on flip turns," which are fewer and farther between.

This was proving to be an advantage to Szymanski, who said her flip turns remained an area for improvement.

Additionally, Ellis said she was working with Szymanski on her "underwaters" – spending more time underwater at the start and after each turn by improving the power of her dolphin kick – and on pushing harder in the first half of the race. "There’s plenty of room to improve," she said.

"Genny is a ‘back-half’ swimmer…we’re working on being more aggressive" at the beginning of the race.

After the trip to Omaha, Szymanski will take a break from the intense training regimen. She’s planned a month-long trip to Romania and will volunteer at an orphanage, a dream she’s had since high school.

"I can’t wait; I’m so excited," said Szymanski, who’s never been abroad. "There won’t be any swimming there."