Volume XXXVIII    Number 18,   May 8, 2008

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Former Haines Dolphin Genny Szymanski took fourth place in the 200-meter backstroke at the Big Ten championship, breaking a team record and qualifying for the NCAA championships.

If she can repeat or better that time in a 50-meter pool this summer, she’ll qualify for the 2008 Olympics. “It was definitely the best race of my life,” Szymanski said in an interview.

 Swimming at Ohio State University Feb. 23, Szymanski,a sophomore at Northwestern University, clocked 1:57:05, breaking a Northwestern record set in 2001, and one broken only five times in school history.

The time qualified her for the NCAA championships and placed her among 30 of the fastest swimmers in the country in the event.

This year’s Big Ten meet was Szymanski’s second, and she said her experiences in college and her nine years of competitive swimming added up to greater focus. She said at this meet, something clicked.

“I started to realize what I need to do to get ready and not be nervous,” she said, naming proper warm-up and calm, positive thinking as crucial elements.

The meet was not without its harrowing moments, however. Szymanski said she nearly missed a heat Friday. She was preparing in the warm-up pool when she saw a teammate’s name appear on the scoreboard.           

She rushed to the blocks, mortified that she had held up the race, and got a stern lecture from officials. Still Szymanski said she “went really fast,” taking 24th place in an event – the 100m backstroke – that was not her best. “It was a good learning experience,” she said. “It was really traumatic.” She said coaches were supportive, and encouraged her to “get over it, let it go.”

Szymanski said she had a tough time last year adjusting to the athletic and academic demands at Northwestern, but said this year was much easier. “You learn you can’t do everything. That was the hardest part.”

Szymanski and her teammates wake at 5:30 a.m., swim for an hour and a half and then do strength training. They eat breakfast before attending class and doing homework, swim again for two hours, and then stretch and meet as a team in the evening. “Swimming is such a huge family,” she said. “I love it because you’re so close.”

Getting to know coach Jim Tierney and learning to communicate what worked and what didn’t had been significant, she said.

“That’s so important to me,” she said, adding that her strong relationships with club coaches in the past had encouraged her to persevere. “That’s helped me more than anything.”

Last year, Szymanski missed the NCAA cut by a disappointingly narrow margin, and her season finished after Big Tens.

This year, she will continue training intensely until the NCAA championships in May. Szymanski said her goal at the NCAA meet, besides going faster and breaking another record, was to boost Northwestern’s team standing.

“I need to score, to be in the top 16.” She said a team’s scores at NCAA was a major factor in attracting potential students to the swim program.

At the end of the meet, Szymanski will get a chance to achieve one of her fondest dreams: to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. 

Olympic trials will be held the day after the NCAA meet’s conclusion in a 50-meter pool. Although her time at the Big Tens, which she swam in a standard 25-yard collegiate pool, converted to an Olympic qualifying time, she will have to repeat the performance in the Olympic-sized pool to make the cut.