Downing Janet Evans: Stephanie Peacock Breaks 22-Year-Old NCAA Record

Feature by Chelsea Howard

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania, March 20. AFTER the NCAA Division I Women's Championships came to a close, 14 pool records, six NCAA records, and six American records were broken. Of those 26 records, one stood out over some of the others.

North Carolina sophomore Stephanie Peacock won the 1650-yard freestyle touching out three-time defending champion Wendy Trott of Georgia by .15 and breaking the 22-year old NCAA record set by Janet Evans back in 1990. Peacock clocked a 15:38.79, while Trott posted a 15:38.94. Evans' 1990 standard had stood since she set the mark in Austin, Texas with a 15:39.14.

Every swimmer's mentality is slightly different when they go behind the blocks and get ready for their race. For this particular race, Peacock's mentality was full of excitement.

“I was just excited to swim the race because I knew the competition would be good. I was also excited just to see what I could go,” Peacock said.

When Peacock finished the race, she didn't know that she was a new record holder right away.

“All I knew when I touched the wall was that I had won and it took me a minute to realize that I had broken the record. It was hard to process that I had just won the mile on top of breaking Janet Evans' record. I was so excited and happy,” Peacock said.

Peacock swam the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly, and the 500-yard freestyle as her main events during her freshman year. This year, she swapped out the 200-yard butterfly for the 1650-yard freestyle. There was not much of a change in her training; however, she did work a little more power into her sets.

“We just kept my training the same since I train mostly for the 500 free. If anything changed, I actually trained less yardage and incorporated more power training into my sets,” Peacock said.

Last year, Peacock was held back by a shoulder injury and spent most of the year fighting back from it. She placed 15th in the 500-yard freestyle at NCAA's. After overcoming adversity, Peacock came to NCAAs this year eager to compete and ended up placing 3rd in the 500-yard freestyle in addition to her outstanding performance in the 1650-yard freestyle.

“My injury from last year definitely motivated me because I didn't get the place I wanted last year and I couldn't wait to see what I could do this year,” Peacock said.

After breaking a record and becoming a national champion, Peacock will use these accomplishments as a confidence boost and motivation to train harder.

“Setting a record like this as a sophomore makes me more motivated to train, especially since Trials is coming up. Getting this record was something I didn't expect so it makes me very excited for my next two NCAA's,” Peacock said.

As part of a team, Peacock says she couldn't have done it without her teammates to help her along the way.

“My teammates have helped me so much this year. Every day we motivate each other in practice and remind each other of our goals. It helps a lot to have such encouraging teammates. They've been with me through it all and I really wouldn't be here without them,” Peacock said.

With Olympic Trials only a few months away, Peacock will get back to training after taking a little time off.

“I'm going to take a week off so I can come back refreshed and ready to train again for trials,” Peacock said.

Peacock competed at the 2008 Olympic Trials where she swam the 200-meter IM, 200-meter freestyle, and the 400-meter freestyle. This time around in the 2012 Olympic Trials, she will swim the 200-meter freestyle, 400- meter freestyle, and 800-meter freestyle. Peacock will go into the meet with a more confident mentality with an extra four years of experience.

“This time I will be going into the meet focusing on making top eight and then we'll go from there. I'm really pumped for this summer's Olympic Trials,” Peacock said.

Peacock has proven to be a hard worker through her success and is admired by many of her teammates.

“Stephanie is probably one of the most hardworking girls I've ever trained with. She's amazing to watch and it's been a privilege to share my last two years with her. She's an incredibly humble person and deserves all of her success. I love being her teammate because she keeps swimming fun,” Candace Cooper, a senior from the University of North Carolina, said.

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