The Rural Swimmer

Feature by Kristen Heiss

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, September 25. DYNAMO Swim Club, Longhorn Aquatics, Cincinnati Marlins, Mission Viejo Nadadores: These are just a few of the well-known clubs that produce national caliber swimmers year after year. However, not all swimmers have the advantage of being located near a designated swimming hot-spot in the country.

Swimmers in rural settings find ways to succeed, whether it be by driving into town 40 minutes to be able to train, swimming in their backyards, or training alone.

Will Vietti just finished his senior year of swimming at the University of Kentucky. With a top 16 finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100 breaststroke and two second-place finishes in the 100 breaststroke at the Southeastern Conference meet, Will has had a successful swimming career.

Many people might not have seen this success in the future of someone from Worland, Wyoming; population 5,000. Will only swam three months of the year during the high school season, usually practicing four to five days a week and averaging around 4,500 yards a day. Will says that it is hard to give an average workout since he "tried to cram an entire training/taper rotation into three months."

To get to practice, Will said "it would take almost exactly 37 minutes…But sometimes I'd get behind a beet truck or stuck in nasty weather and it could take closer to an hour."

Despite not having the swimming background other swimmers have entering college, the University of Kentucky saw the potential in Will. Will says that he did have the advantage of having a strong weight program in high school, which helped ease a little of the pressure entering into college, however, the transition from high school to college for Will was "rough…My goal the first few months was not to make first interval but simply finish the workout." Survive Will did, and this swimmer from a small town in Wyoming found success with a Division I swimming program.

Other swimmers simply find it difficult to find a pool to train in. Alexandra Hoffman, the current Miss South Dakota, is from Eureka, South Dakota. Growing up on a farm 20 miles outside the small town of 1,100 people, Alexandra swam in the place that was most convenient for her: her backyard. She says that in 1964, her grandfather built a 20'x40' pool in their backyard, and in 1989, her parents put a cover on it to make it an indoor pool. In 1993, her mother started a swim team in their backyard. Alexandra remembers that "every day all of the swim team members had to drive or carpool the 20 miles out to our ranch to practice."

In high school, Alexandra was able to average 4,000-5,000 yards once a day. Her senior year, Alexandra signed with the University of Minnesota. There, Alexandra was "swimming roughly 7,000 – 10,000 yards a day plus lifting weights and going to class. It was very tough and at times, I was so tired I didn't have the energy to study or work on homework."

Wanting to be closer to home, Alexandra later transferred to South Dakota State, where she currently holds several school records.

Terry Rolfe, from Newcastle, Wyoming, had no team to train with at his high school of 275 students. Entering his junior year, the only people interested in competing for Newcastle High School were Terry and a diver. For his high school meets, Terry opted to swim for Buffalo, a small town located two hours from Newcastle. Unfortunately, that meant practicing alone in Newcastle on the weekdays.

As Terry puts it, "Practices that year were difficult to say the least. It's one thing to push yourself through a race with no one with you, but it's entirely different when there is no one to train with you all season long."

The only person to encourage Terry through sets was the diver, and Terry says that it "made my practices by myself easier to cope with because between sets, I could talk to him [the diver]."

However, Terry was not just without a team: he was also without a coach. The diving coach was in charge of Terry's swim practices. Despite all of these factors, Terry had a successful swimming career, finishing his senior year with a state record in the 100 yard backstroke, an All-American Consideration cut, and winning the Wyoming Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Meet awards for the state swim meet.

Terry is continuing his swimming career as a freshman at the University of South Dakota, and, with 50 other swimmers to train with, Terry says he is excited for the first time to "be pushed by something other than just my own thoughts."

Will, Alexandra, and Terry are just a few examples of swimmers who have overcome obstacles to pursue their swimming careers. From training alone, to swimming in a backyard, or driving an hour into practice, these swimmers were willing to face the challenges their rural settings presented to them. As they all have shown, all it takes is a little determination and will to succeed at the sport they love.

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