JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Senior Maggie Melhorn talks about her swim experiences over the summer of 2017, as the Knoxville, Tenn. native had the opportunity to compete in New York City.
"Back in March when competing at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championship Festival, I swam a best time of 2:13.66 in my 200 breaststroke. Not only did this time rank me as the 3rd fastest 200 breaststroker in all of Division 2, but it qualified me to be able to race at the 2017 US Open in New York during the first week of August. A meet where Olympians such as Ryan Lochte and Cullen Jones would be competing along with many other international level athletes.
Since I was training for a specific meet, and one that was in long-course meters nonetheless, my training was a lot more rigorous than it has been in past summers. Beginning at the end of May when we were let out of school I began to put my full focus back into swimming. Everyday during the week I would wake up at 5:30 am to get to morning practice and train from 6:30 until 9:00 am. I would then return to the pool to practice again from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, complementing my practices with a lift three times a week.
Because this meet was a USA swimming sponsored meet, I had to travel and represent my club team, Tennessee Aquatic Club (TNAQ), when competing there. I traveled with one of my coaches at TNAQ and four other swimmers. We all flew out together on Tuesday, August 1, out of the Knoxville airport and we arrived in the LaGuardia airport in New York around 10:30 am. Upon first arriving in New York we grabbed our rental car and drove to get some lunch. We then dropped off our luggage at the hotel and headed to the pool for a shake-out swim.
The pool was set up with a long-course competition pool inside, a couple of short course lanes set up in the diving well to warmup/warm down before races, as well as a long course pool outside. Since my main event wasn't until Thursday I did a longer shake-out swim, the first half of my shake-out I did outside, but then I went inside to make sure I was comfortable with the walls and blocks of the competition pool. The rest of the afternoon we hung out at the hotel and then went to a local restaurant for dinner.
On Wednesday, while I did not have my main event, I did decide to time trial my 100 breaststroke so I could practice racing it for my upcoming senior year, as well as, feel out my breaststroke for when I raced my 200 the next day. So, I woke up Wednesday morning, ate a balanced breakfast at the hotel, swallowed the butterflies in my stomach, and went to the pool to warm-up and prepare for my time trial. Luckily other girls were time trialing my event as well so I had competitors to race. I went a faster time than I had during my long course meet in June so it showed that my hard work this summer was paying off and I was improving. My breaststroke felt good and I learned a few things I needed to fix and be aware of for my race the following day.
Thursday was the day I was racing the 200 breaststroke, so I had the same morning routine as the morning before. Once I got to the pool I did a long general warm-up and then I dried off to put my racing suit on. I ate a small snack and then got back in the warm-up pool to work on some pace and do a shorter warm-up. Once that was done, it was time to get behind the blocks and compete. I went out and gave it my all, leaving it all in the pool and I was able to perform the race strategy that I had discussed with Coach Jordan earlier that summer.
Friday's schedule went along the same as Wednesday, except I time trialed the 200 IM rather than the 100 breaststroke. I did well in this event too while still learning things that I needed to fix and focus on this upcoming season. The rest of the weekend we spent going to watch our other teammates swim in the morning and then the rest of the afternoon we had free to go into New York City to site see and shop. I was able to see Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial, Central Park, China Town and Grand Central Station to name a few sites. In addition, we got to experience the different kinds of transportation such as train and subway. One of my favorite parts was all the different food we got to eat and try. There were so many unique and delicious places to dine at."
Melhorn is a four-time Honorable Mention All-American at Carson-Newman.
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