Thursday, February 5, 2009
One minute and 38 seconds is a short amount of time. For the Kansas medley relay team, it’s barely short enough. Sophomore Iuliia Kuzhil and seniors Maria Mayrovich, Danielle Herrmann and Ashley Leidigh will have to swim that time or better at the Big 12 Championships if they hope to qualify for the NCAA Championships in March.
The medley relay is one of two team events for Kansas. The relay has four swimmers, each swimming one of four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. This race is the first event of any meet, and Herrmann said it helps the team to get pumped up early.
“It would be awesome to start the meet off with a win or to qualify for NCAA,” Herrmann said.
Herrmann and Leidigh have been on the medley relay team since their sophomore year. This will be their last chance to qualify for NCAA Championships. Leidigh said the team aspect of the medley relay was what made it more interesting than other races.
“It’s more fun when you’re swimming for three other people and not just for yourself,” Leidigh said.
Practice doesn’t always involve the entire team. In fact, each swimmer practices her own event separately.
They run the race as a team as it gets closer to the meet. It may seem strange for team members to practice solo, but the strategy is effective — Kansas has won the medley relay the last four out of five times they raced in it.
Finding four swimmers who excel at each stroke is hard, said Mayrovich. Kansas’ lineup will have to make individual performance and team chemistry come together to reach that 1:38 goal.
IULIIA KUZHIL, backstroke
Coach Clark Campbell brought Kuzhil from Cherkasy, Ukraine. The youngest member of the team, Kuzhil has only been in the United States for five months. Kuzhil said she had several options for university study but decided on Kansas after talking with the coaches.
“They needed a backstroker so that’s what I worked on when I got here,” Kuzhil said.
Kuzhil is finishing her English studies but doesn’t know what she wants to major in yet. After graduation, Kuzhil says she wants to continue swimming and stay in the United States.
DANIELLE HERRMANN, breaststroke
As much as Herrmann loves swimming, she eventually wants to work in a hospital as a pharmacist. Herrmann finished her PCAT about an hour before the medley relay team opened the meet against South Dakota and Northern Iowa with a 12.31 second victory.
Herrmann said she thought she might continue swimming after this year while she finished working on her pharmacy degree.
“You can never look too far ahead because everything can change,” Herrmann said.
When she’s not swimming or studying, Herrmann said, she and her friends like to play Rock Band or play basketball at the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center.
ASHLEY LEIDIGH, butterfly
Leidigh, the other veteran swimmer on the relay team, wants to take a break from swimming after college. Leidigh is a journalism major and wants to work in the sports industry after she finishes at Kansas.
“I don’t want to do anything right after college,” Leidigh said, “I thought I might move to Arizona with my dad and just relax a bit.”
MARIA MAYROVICH, freestyle
The Novorossiysk, Russia, senior plans to keep swimming after college. Mayrovich said that after she completes her degree in economics, she would like to train with the team and swim on the national swimming circuit. Mayrovich said she knew that she was supposed to come to Kansas when Campbell contacted her.
“I just felt like I had to get here. I would still pick Kansas again if I was given the choice,” Mayrovich said. “Not every university has the same level of confidence and spirit as KU,” Mayrovich said.
Mayrovich spends her little free time talking to her friends back home on Skype or Facebook. She also enjoys reading inspirational books and is reading Michael Phelps’ book right now.
“It’s just really interesting to read about other people who have worked so hard and become so successful,” Mayrovich said.
— Edited by Carly Halvorson
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