Lara’s Blog

Lara Jackson first started competitive swimming as a 10-year-old in El Paso’s summer league.  After that first summer, Coach Melissa Lomeli encouraged Lara to continue on her year round club swim team.  Lara enjoyed success participating at Texas Age Group Swimming meets at the state level and setting new Border Swimming records, including the 50 yd and 50 meter free and the 100 yd fly.  During high school, Lara was also a member of the Ft Bliss Barracuda club team and worked closely with Coach Wright Stanton III.  Lara swam for Eastwood High School her freshman year and transferred to Chapin High School her sophomore year.  Lara set new Regional records in Lubbock in the 50 yd free, 100 yd free, 100 yd breast and 100 yd fly.  She was the Texas 4A state champion junior and senior years in the 50 yd free, won the 100 yd fly senior year and was runner up in the 100 yd breast her junior year, making her a five time high school All-American.      
For college, Lara found a good match in the University of Arizona, and was invited to walk onto the team.  Lara moved up the ranks of the team enjoying success with the 50 yd free, 100 free, 100 fly and in the 200 medley relay in the butterfly leg, the 200 free relay, the 400 free relay and in the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay.  She is also a 2-time national champion in the 50 yd free, as well as the American and NCAA record holder in that event in 2008/2009.  She is a 14-time college All-American.
Lara’s other interests include riding her mare, Calypso and listening to The Offspring, Incubus, Sublime and 80’s retro rock music.

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Lara Jackson has been accepted to be inducted into the El Paso Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Thanks to Flip Lyle for nominating her. Thanks to all of her coaches who wrote letters of recomendation including Melissa Lomeli, Wright Stanton III, Jeremiah Rush, Rick DeMont and Frank Busch. And to our family including supportive dad, Keith, and blog writer, Carly Rose, Lara’s older sister. We are so very proud of Lara and of her accomplishments. And now with the end of college swimming, we are looking forward to a new beginning, in the realm of a professional!

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The Women’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships will be broadcast on Thursday, March 3/26 3:30-5:00 PM Eastern time on ESPN2.

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Had the long drive home from College Station to El Paso to review about the outcome of NC’s 2009.  We are all a little let down that Arizona did not repeat the national championship this year.  Arizona was the best team on deck and they would have won if they did not miss out on the 40 points the 200 medley relay would have brought them.  But they did still finish third!  And the point spread from first to third was 22.5 points.  CAL won with 411.5 points, Georgia second with 400.5 and Arizona with 389 points.  Cal only had 14 qualify for NCAA’s.  So they can be very proud of their achievement.  And if Arizona could not win, they are sure glad that another PAC-10 team took the title.  And Georgia did have 18 girls, as did Arizona, so they also did not have as a successful meet as their first place predicted potential.  And our girls rallied like crazy!  They never gave up and kept up the hope that they could pull it off.  So we can be a little sad for what did not happen, but then remember how truly awesome this team is! 
And we are very proud of Lara.  Last Thursday was an incredible day for her with a new American record in the 50 free and setting records with her team mates in the 200 free and 400 medley relays.  On Friday, she made the consolation finals, which she did not do a year ago.  And on Saturday, she did a personal best in the 100 free and made it to the championship finals, as did the 400 free relay.
I guess we are also a little sad that the incredible journey Lara has been on with this NCAA Division I swim program has now come to an end.  Lara is done with college swimming!  Keith and I are going to miss the camardarie of the other Arizona swim parents.  But now it’s onto bigger and better things for Lara.  She is now free to go pro, continue training at Arizona as a post grad and get ready for some big time international meets.  The first is USA Nationals in early July in Indianapolis hoping to make the world USA swim team to Rome for July 26 – August 2, 2009.   So go Lara Jackson!  Go USA!

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It didn’t quite turned out as we had hoped.  California was amazing and won the National title.  Georgia edged out Arizona for second and Arizona took home the bronze trophy.  We sure did miss the 40 points that the 200 medley relay would have brought to the score.  But that’s old news.  What made these women champions is the dignity and fight that they portrayed with the hand that they were dealt.  It was not a fun turn of events, but what happened, happened.  And that’s life sometimes, isn’t it?
These women have worked hard since day one of practice last August.  They wanted to repeat as national champions.   They set goals.  They fought hard.  But as one of the coaches put it, it’s only a sport, not an actual war.  But the experience that these women had will change them for the better.  They’ve known adversity and rose up inspite of it.  They faced many challenges and never quit trying.  They never lost heart.  They did not roll over and die.  These women are our future leaders.  Our role models.  Our success stories.  I remember hearing a lecture at the US Olympic Trials Parent Training Camp, you can win a race and not be successful.  Or you can lose a race and have it be a success.  These women are a success.  They are a team when they win and a team when they don’t.  They are there for each other, ever loyal.  The expericence these past three days at NCAA’s  will impact their lives for a long, long time.  And they can hold their heads forever high.  Well done, Cats.

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Lara is seeded fifth in the 100 free in tonight’s finals with a new personal best time of 47.76! AZ relay in 4 X 100 free is also in 5th seed for finals. Lara will lead off the relay this evening. Looking at the numbers, the 2009 National Championship Team winner may come down to this relay between CAL, Georgia and Arizona. Go Cats!

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This has been quite a busy time at the Women’s NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship Meet here in College Station, Texas.  The first day was a whirlwind, especially for Lara who was busy with two relays and one individual event.  First order of business was to swim well enough in pre-lims to qualify for finals and Lara got it done.  Event number one is the 200 free relay and Lara lead it off well and the team was all set for finals later that evening.  Then Lara had her 50 yd free and was seeded first for the finals.  The capable Dana Christ filled in for the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay in pre-lims and that team also was set for the final championship heat.
Then it was time for finals.  Lara started off the relay and set a new American record with a 21.27!  The team was on fire and won the relay with a new American, NCAA and US Open record!  Way to go Cats!  Then Lara had the 50 free and she became the national champ in that event two years in a row with a 21.40.  And the 400 medley relay was able to take it home with another win and new American, NCAA and US Open records as well.  By the end of the evening, Arizona was ahead in the team standings.
On to Day Two prelims.   The 200 medley relay team of DeGolia, Chandler, Jackson and Schluntz were set to go.  I was in the front row videotaping as Hailey got into position ready for the start.  Then it happened.  Just before the buzzer, Hailey’s head tilted back, and she had a false start.  The race was stopped and Arizona did not get their chance to swim their most favorite relay.   Very disappointing.  I watched as Hailey exited the pool and was crying while walking over to the other girls in her relay.  Lara was standing talking to her intently.
Later I asked Lara what she said to Hailey.  Lara said that she told Hailey to stop crying, these things happen, it’s over and nothing to be done now except start gearing up for the rest of the events of the day.  I could see the disappointment in their eyes, but these girls are champions through and through.  They win together and they stick together when things don’t go their way.  I could not have been more proud of Lara’s level-headedness and maturity.  Lara, when did you grow up to be so wise! 
Lara then had her individual 100 fly in which she finished in 16th place to make it to the consolation final heat.  She came back in the evening to take second in that heat, finishing tenth overall in the fly.  She did not meet her goals in that event, but she gave it her best shot.  Throughout the evening the scores reflected either Georgia or California in the lead in the team standings.  But after the 800 free relay, Cal pulled ahead, with Georgia second and Arizona third. 
So Day Three is a big day with many questions.  Who will be the 2009 NCAA Champs?  Can Arizona pull ahead with it’s depth or have they lost their momentum?  Is Georgia hungry for the title and able to take it all?  Or will CAL be the victor with the talented Dana Vollmer leading the way?  Well it ain’t over yet!  And Arizona is not rolling over and playing dead.  They have faced tough times before and they can overcome the setbacks.  Let’s get this roller coaster going in the right direction!  Go Zona!  Go Cats.

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Thanks to everyone reading the blog. Your support and good wishes are much appreciated.

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When Carly and Lara were younger, we loved to read story books including the story about Cinderella.  We even own the Disney movie.  And later on we loved Drew Barrymore’s version in, “Ever After”.  Afterall, Drew played a girl who loved books and was very intelligent.  How can you beat that?  Looking over the past four years of Lara’s college swimming career, I can’t help but see the similarities.  No, Lara did not have a wicked stepmother.  But when Lara was invited to walk onto the Arizona swim team, she was just an unassuming girl from El Paso that no one had heard of.  So her fairy god coaches took her under their wings, granted a few wishes and gave Cinder-Lara a chance of a lifetime.  During that first freshman year, Lara struggled every day with the most intense workouts she had ever experienced.  There were many times when Lara questioned that she belonged at this level of athletics.  There were times when her team mates wondered if Lara could cut it and last on the team.  But something magical was happening.  Her Arizona coaches saw the potential and encouraged Lara to hang in there.  They boosted her up and re-assured her.  And a little breakthrough came during the middle of her freshman year when Lara swam a faster 50 yard fly split in the 200 medley relay than the talented Whitney Myers.  She made the “A” relay for Pac-10’s and NCAA’s in 2006 and became a college All-American.
The summer between freshman and sophomore year provided a welcome respite from the grueling workouts.  Lara had no interests in Nationals and just competed in a couple of long course meets.  She came home for a couple of weeks to spend time with us – and her horse!  I was paying monthly boarding costs for Calypso and finally I told Lara she either needed to sell her or get her moved to Tucson.  By early November Lara found a stable to board her and Keith arranged for a friend of Lara’s to trailor her to Tucson.  When Lara competed at the Texas Invitational in December 2006, she swam a 22.05 and set a new school record.  Her best time from the previous season was a low 23!  She was not able to swim a 22 to save her life during freshman year, then sophomore year she just skips a whole second!  In a 50?!?!  That’s outrageous.  Her coach, Rocket told her, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner that you needed the horse to swim faster?”  At NC’s in 2007, Lara finished second to Kara Lynn Joyce in the 50 free with a 21.73.  Kara Lynn’s time was 21.71.  Lara also was part of two record breaking relays in the 200 medley  and 200 free relays.  Lara had arrived!
During  junior year, Lara really came into her own.   She was more confident and working hard as ever.  It paid off.  She became an individual national champion in the 50 free with a 21.69 and was part of three record breaking relays in the 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relays.  Then came the Olympic Trials.  No need to go into too much detail because anyone reading this blog will remember the heartbreak of finishing third by six one hundreths of a second in the 50 meter free and not making the team, only to have some hope when Jessica Hardy became ineligible to be on the Olympic Team, then not being named to the team.   Once the sting of that disappointment dissipated, Lara returned to Arizona swim practice both fired up and driven.  She was a changed person, for the better.  Lara was now on a mission.
A big boost for her was being elected by her teammates to be co-captain of the team.  Did you say captain?  A little walk-on who was not supposed to make it more than one year on the team, is a captain?  Yep!  A leader emerged.  And in a big way.  The Texas Invitational in December 2008, Lara casually goes out to swim her 50 yard free and sets a new American record in prelims with a 21.37 and in finals with a 21.33.  She nailed that sucker! 
Next week is the fancy ball.  This NCAA’s 2009 will be Lara’s swan song to college swimming.  What will she do at this meet?  Let the record show that she followed a similar pattern during her high school career, topping off senior year with two wins at state, plus a second place medal in the 200 yard free relay.  She just kept getting better and better each time to state.  Perhaps little Cinderella will have a long reign in the world of professional swimming.  Long live the queen!  Oh, and Go Cats!

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Please be aware this blog will be unavailable from1-2 AM EST, Sunday morning for a program update.

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