Swim team gears up for Pac-12 Championships with ‘relaxed intensity’

Illnesses slowed junior Kathryn Murphy down earlier in the season, but she’s bounced back just in time for the Pac-12 Championships. Now, she said, all she needs is some “crazy” music and a new pair of bright-colored Nikes and she’ll be ready to race.

Murphy, facing challenges in a self-described “rocky” season, was out sick for over two weeks starting in January. However, being back in the pool and facing the support of her team have motivated her to work hard leading up to the competition in order to race her best.

“For myself, I try not to have too many expectations or standards going into it … I just want to race well and swim to my potential rather than thinking about times,” Murphy said. “I just want to do my best, race my best and just focus on how I’m going to do that.”

The rest of the UCLA swim team, which has been tapering its workouts and fine-tuning race techniques in the past week, hopes that the Pac-12s prove to be a good experience in what coach Cyndi Gallagher calls “relaxed intensity,” facing difficult competition with the knowledge that the team has faced similar swimmers before.

“(Pac-12s are) a great prelude to NCAAs because (they’re) intense. But it’s people we’ve swam against all year long (who are) super fast,” Gallagher said. “The bigger the challenges and struggles, the higher you can rise. So I’m expecting some big things from people.”

No matter how prepared the swimmers are for challenges ahead, Pac-12s will prove to be an emotional struggle that the athletes are fully aware of.

“Some people might be worried. Some people might be crying if they do bad; others might be crying if they do really (well),” said freshman Lexy Troup. Despite this, Troup isn’t worried about the team’s performance.

“I feel like we’ve got a lot of depth going into this meet. It’s not like there’s two people leading the team; I feel like there’s always four or five strong swimmers in every single event,” Troup said.

In addition to being motivated by the overall strength of the swimmers, a number of alumni have visited the swimmers to provide commentary about past meet performances and to encourage the women in the coming races.

All of these factors, combined with the swimmers’ preparations to clear their minds of the stresses of school, have made the athletes more holistically ready for this week’s racing challenges. However, personal rituals can’t be forgotten for one of the biggest meets of the year.

“(These) are my last two things,” Murphy said. “Get my shoes, and get my playlist together.”