Between the lane lines
The Utah State University swim team is coming off a successful 2011-12 season in which seven members of the team competed at nationals. Now, with each one of those swimmers returning for this new year, there is no where to go but up.
At the time many students were studying for and taking our final exams, the USU swim team was in Greensboro, N.C., taking part in the U.S. Masters Swimming National Championships. The seven swimmers all medaled in their individual events and the team relay.
Christie Bunnell led the way with a gold medal in the women’s 1,000 freestyle with a time of 11 minutes, 42.9 seconds.
Marcus Singleton medaled in all four events he competed in. His best place came in the 500 freestyle, a seventh place finish with a time of 5:11.3 seconds.
Despite the success, Singleton is hungry for more. As team president this year, he will have to handle other duties along with regular training, but he is excited for this season.
“I dropped about eight seconds on my 200 free last season,” Singleton said. “This year I’m hoping to get down to around 1:46 or 1:47, which is pretty fast I think, but would most likely get me into third or second place at nationals.”
Katherine Pulley is one of the captains this year, her fourth year with the team. She went to nationals last year and said she has enjoyed swimming at USU.
“Nationals was a lot of fun last year,” Pulley said. “We had to do a lot of fundraising to get us there but we were able to take the fastest people on the team and have a good time there. It was fun to meet lots of people there, even a few Olympians.”
Pulley said swimming at the Masters level is more relaxed than competitive. Her main goal this year is to be a good leader and share her experience with the other swimmers.
“I’m the only one left that has been here since the swimming club started here four years ago,” she said. “The old coach is gone and so we’ve got a lot of changes going on. I’ll be trying hard this year to be a good leader, and rather than trying to be faster I will try to help everyone else become better.”
Jenna Moore, a sophomore returning for her second year with the team, is also looking forward at doing even better at nationals this season.
“I’m really looking forward to this year and improving a lot over last year,” she said. “My main goals are just to stay healthy, improve my times from last season, to show everyone what I’m capable of and to really help the team be successful.”
This year’s team is currently hovering at between 30-35 members, the majority being female swimmers. Singleton said the club is always open to new members, no matter what their skill level may be.
“We’ve got a lot of new swimmers this year,” he said. “We have a wide range of swimmers competing on the team, from 18 years old to 50. Some are here to race for nationals, others are here to just improve or get a good workout. It just depends on what your individual goals are.”
Pulley said the team’s booth at the Day on the Quad a few weeks ago had a great turnout.
“We had lots of people come sign up and show interest in the club,” Pulley said. “Many said they swam in high school. I’m sure if practice was in the afternoon we could get more people out, but if people come they will have fun and have that feeling of being part of a team.”
– j.dahl@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @jdahl3