Lara’s Blog

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we look forward to the coming week.  Yes, folks, it’s finally time for the Texas Invitational Meet at University of Texas at Austin, other wise known as UT.  Now why the excitement in the middle of the NCAA season?  Because Arizona tapers for this meet to try to get really fast times and to qualify the swimmers for as many NCAA cut times as possible.  As I’ve mentioned before, swimming is a very strange sport.  Unlike football or basketball, it’s not important to win as many dual meets as possible to go to NC’s.  What you need are the NCAA standard cut times, preferably the “A” times which is an automatic cut.  The “B” times are the NCAA consideration times.  So for the “B” times, it all depends on how many have qualified faster than you, and if you are lucky, you’ll get called up.
Another weird thing about swimming is that there are various stages of work outs.  In the middle of the season, the swimmers are working their hardest, lifting weights, bulking up, getting strong.  When the swimmers need to swim their fastest, they begin a taper in their workout, otherwise known as “resting”.  The work outs lighten up, no weight lifting, just staying flexible and alot of focus on technique.  There’s stroke technique, starts and turns.  With the combination of resting and a super fast suit with the latest technology in fabric, with long legs, the combination sets the swimmer up for fast swimming. 
And with Lara being a sprinter, her body responds very nicely to tapers.  That’s why when you watch the big league swimming like the Trials and Olympics, the swimmers are not sure exactly how fast they will go until they finish their race.  You can not be exactly sure what’s going to happen.  But of course the coaches have a good idea on what the potential is.  Their job is to keep the swimmers focused on the skill and if it all comes together, the faster time will too. 
That’s what made that 50 meter free American record so special that Lara swam in pre-lims at Trials.  She now knows that she is a big league swimmer.  And on top of that, she has been driven this year to have a great senior year.  That’s why Keith and I are so excited to go to UT and see how all of this hard work and focusing pans out.  And as my mother always says, ”A little luck doesn’t hurt either”. 
So Lara has done the work, she’s got the talent, she has her focus.  Now all she needs to do is get out there and swim.  And may luck be on her side!

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What a whirlwind week for Lara and the Arizona Swimming & Diving Team!  I finally caught up with Lara today to get the scoop.  The Team left Tucson early Tuesday morning, November 11, for Washington, DC.  Luckily, Lara’s teammate and co-captain, Taylor Baughman was writing a daily blog on the Arizona Swim Page on their experiences on the trip.  But I did want to get Lara’s impressions on her first trip to our nation’s capital.  Lara loves history and she thoroughly enjoyed seeing the famous monuments and buildings in DC.  The Team walked from one end of the Washington Mall to the other, stopping to see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, WW II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Viet Nam Memorial, the Capital building and the White House.  Lara said that she took lots of pictures and I’ll get to see them at Thanksgiving.
Wednesday was the big day when they went to the White House and enjoyed a reception in the East Wing.  Lara’s impression of meeting President Bush was that he was a friendly guy. He visited with the Team for a bit.  Lara was thrilled to shake the hand of an actual president, the first president that she voted for when she was 18 years old.  After being in the East Wing, the Team went out to the South Lawn of the White House and enjoyed taking pictures out there.  From the picture on the Swim Page, looked like it was a little chilly, but they all had a great time. 
Then on Thursday the Team headed back to Tucson, landed at 1:50 PM and headed straight to the pool for practice.  And they did not miss any practice in DC either, using the pool at the University of Maryland.
On Friday, the Team had a 9:00 AM flight to LAX for their dual meets at USC on Friday and at UCLA on Saturday.  Lara said that she saw the fires from the air that are affecting the LA area.  She tried to get a picture, but had a tough time. 
USC was lying in wait for the Arizona Team.  The USC swimmers were fully rested, shaved and in full competition suits.  They wanted it very badly!  And they did take the victory.  Now Arizona does not rest, shave nor put on full competition suits for a dual meet.  They save it for the big meets.  So no big surprise.  Plus the Washington, DC travel did put a toll on the girls.  But Lara was ready.  She swam her 50 yd free in a time of 22.47!  For this time of year, that is super fast!  Yes, Lara came prepared.  Lara’s 100 free was a 50.47, good enough for third place.  And she came in third in the 100 fly with a 55.74.  Yep, pretty good times for a dual meet.  To close the day, the women’s 400 free relay team of Justine Schluntz, Lara Jackson, Leone Vorster and Taylor Baughman won the event with a time of 3:19.26. 
Saturday at UCLA was an easy day for Lara.  Arizona did win that meet.  And Lara got to take it easy with two ”off” events, events that she does not usually swim in big time competition.  She came in fouth in the 100 breast with a 105.88.  And she swam her 200 IM in 207.78.  Both times better than she swam in high school competition.  So they were pretty good swims.  In the 200 free relay, Lara swam the second leg in a 22.43.  Lara says she enjoys being at UCLA and visits with the coach, Cindy, who had gone to Japan with the National Team with Lara, in August of 2007.
So there you have it.  A big week of jet setting, meeting the President and competing in two dual meets in southern California.  Now it’s time for a little rest and getting caught up with school.  Then we’ll look forward to the Texas Invitational Meet in Austin Texas, at UT, December 4-6, 2008.  Now there we should see some super fast times!  Go CATS, go!

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Exciting news from Arizona, the Women’s and Men’s Swimming and Diving Teams will travel to Washington, DC on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 to visit the White House as the 2008 National Champions.  Of course Lara did not tell me about the trip, another parent from the team did.  So the teams will spend a couple of days in the nation’s capital, head back home briefly, then head out to Los Angeles for their dual meets with USC on November 14 and UCLA November 15.  Yay Cats!  Your star is very bright these days.  May the teams rise to the occasion!

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Wow!  I wish everyone could have seen what an amazing start to the 2008/2009 season Lara had at the dual meet against Wisconsin, on Friday, October 31, 2008.  Arizona won the meet with some good performances by most of the girls.  Usually Lara is a slow starter at the beginning of the season, especially when she is in her heavy training phase.  One year ago, she struggled to get a “B” NCAA cut in the 100 free.  She finally made that cut at PAC 10’s 2008.  Well, get this, she puts out a 100 free in 50.73, winning the event!  That’s about 1 second off the newly revised, highly competitive “B” cut of 49.76.  Way to go Lara.
Lara was also part of two relays, the 200 medley and the 200 free, that each won.
Now to spice things up a bit, Lara wanted to swim two “off” events, events that she usually does not swim in meets.  Lara swam a personal best in the 100 breast in 105.58.  Her best high school time was a 106.  And she swam the 200 IM in a personal best time of 206.83.  I believe her best high school time was a 2:09.  Now remember, this is in the team suit, not the special long legged fast skin type suits they wear at the top meets.  And Lara is in the heaviest phase of training, lifting weights, etc.  So I was very excited about this meet for her.
When she was just a freshman, at this time in the year, we needed to encourage Lara to hang in there with the team.  Lara saw herself as the slowest one, adjusting to the type of tough workouts that are done at Arizona, that she had never experienced before.  Her coach kept telling her, “Don’t worry Lara, you belong here!”  What an amazing turn around.  One of the partners that Keith works with tells him that this does not happen in swimming.  No unknown walks on to a Division I Team, works their way up to the top, becomes an individual NCAA champion and captain of the team.  This does not happen!  What a Cinderella story!

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