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The last time swimmer Traycie Swartz competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, she fared so poorly that she quit the sport.
But don't count on that happening, again.
The 19-year-old junior-to-be at the University of Utah is a different swimmer now than she was four years ago older, more mature. Competing on her terms. And better still, she might actually have an outside chance to reach the London Olympics this summer, if she pulls out the performance that she feels is buried somewhere inside her.
"It's there," she says. "I definitely think I have the swim in me. It's just whether or not I can find it."
Swartz is among 13 athletes with connections to Utah high schools or colleges who will be competing the trials that start Monday in Omaha, Neb.
All of them are extreme long shots to make the Olympic team.
After all, this is one of the nation's most competitive sports, with superstars such as Natalie Coughlin, Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin dominating much of the time. Even Swartz knows that she's going to have to pull out something amazing to make the team. She's competing in three events, but her best hope is a top-six finish in the 100-meter freestyle, which would land her a spot in the relay pool in London.
"What it will take is me overcoming myself," she said. "Learning how to trust myself and know that I know what I need to do and swim with my heart instead of my head, like [coach Greg Winslow] tells me all the time."
Winslow has been coaching Swartz since she was about 13 years old, and his departure from her club team in the Phoenix area to take the Utah job just before the 2008 trials played a role in her quitting the sport.
Swartz said she was "a little bitter" at the timing, then fell apart as a 15-year-old competing at her first Olympic trials. She was overwhelmed not so much by the other swimmers, but by the massive crowd watching her every move.
"It was terrifying," she recalled. "Absolutely terrifying. I remember being in the ready room and kind of peeking around the corner at a record-breaking number of people in the stands. And I remember they announced it every night, upwards of like 15,000 people. And I'm just like, 'Are you kidding?' There's only eight people when I'm in the water. Seven other people, and then me. There's only so many things to distract them from what I'm doing. It was horrifying."
Her results showed.
She finished no better than 61st in three events, spent a few unhappy months after the trials seeking out a new club back home in Arizona, but never found a good fit.
Disillusioned, she quit the sport.
"I was kind of burned out at that point," she said. "I said I needed a break."
Swartz had been swimming since she was 5 years old, so it was time. She returned to competition a year later only after casually getting back into it while working as an assistant coach under two-time Olympic coach Mike Walker at the Gold Medal Swim Club near Phoenix. Getting back into shape was "miserable," but soon enough, Swartz was in condition to accept a long-standing offer from Winslow to join the Utes.
"It was different," she said, "because I wasn't swimming for anything else but me. I had made the choice to go back. So it made a huge difference."
And here she is, coming off a tremendous season for the Utes she broke school records in all of her events, and competed at the NCAA Championships and just one monumental swim from the Olympics.
"This time, I just kind of hope not to be as nervous," she said. "Last time, nerves were everything for me. They made well, they broke my meet for me. But now with college conference and then Pac-12 Conference and even NCAA meet now, I feel like now I have enough under my belt that nerves won't be as big this time around."
Twitter: @MCLTribune
Utahns at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials
Thirteen athletes with connections to high schools or colleges in Utah are competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials for swimming starting Monday in Omaha, Neb.:
Athlete School Events
Karson Applin Utah 100 butterfly
Hailey Campbell BYU 100 backstroke
Hannah Caron Utah/Woods Cross HS 100 butterfly
Kimberly Doroghian BYU/Lone Peak HS 100 butterfly
Kristina Evans Utah/Skyline HS 50 freestyle
Preston Jenkins* BYU 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke
Brent Murray BYU/Utah 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
Major Robinson Utah 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke
Candice Smith BYU/American Fork HS 200 backstroke
Nick Soedel Utah 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
Traycie Swartz Utah 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke
Ken Tiltges Utah 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
Brady Wells BYU/Orem HS 100 breaststroke
* - incoming freshman