Good article on Dagny in The Washington Post today:
MINOT, N.D. -- The fastest-rising, most jaw-dropping teenage swimmer in the United States trains virtually alone in this frigid, working-class city about 55 miles from the Canadian border, where snowbanks as tall as SUVs line neighborhood streets, rim parking lots and force residents to dig out their mailboxes...
I cannot even believe you posted this!
My hubby and I have often thought of leaving CA and he looks at a lot of Northern latitudes. Just last week his "quest" took him to North Dakota where he looked at schools, etc. He mentioned Dagny and then we looked up her Oly Trials results. She is amazing.
Too funny you posted this "obscure" swimmer who won't be for long!
I have wondered how she trained and had assumed there must be more of a swimming infrastructure around her. Training on her own basically with a personal coach from the area? Unreal. I grew up in a very small town with limited swimming facilities and recall many ways that we made due with what we had and improvised, but I could have never imagined someone reaching that level of swimming while living in a small town in high school.
She, her family, and coaches must be dedicated beyond belief and she must be incredibly talented. I have heard of small town swimmers going on and doing great things in college including the Olympics, but never have I heard of someone attaining world class level swimming while still living and training in that environment.
Good to hear that she is receiving some financial assistance with her swimming.
Tim
Wow, that level of dedication just amazes me. Sounds like she could become a female Michael Phelps if she keeps up the times and the commitment to swimming. Hopefully we can watch her in Rome this year....
Hopefully we can watch her in Rome this year....
Heck... who needs to wait until Rome - she is swimming at the Grand Prix this weekend in Austin according to the psych sheets!
Heck... who needs to wait until Rome - she is swimming at the Grand Prix this weekend in Austin according to the psych sheets!
Yeah, after setting numerous SCY HS records and having some pretty fast seed times for the meet, I am interested in seeing how her SCY prelim swims translate to LCM for finals now that people know who she is. She's making all these waves now, but what happened 8/9 months ago at Trials?
I won't say it, yes I will, no I won't, yes, no, yes, no!
I gotta: Maybe she put on a B70!
I won't let you bait me into that crazy discussion, but now you are going to open up this otherwise peaceful thread to Dolphin 2 and the like when it was all about complimenting a dedicated swimmer.
I agree that it is possible that part of the knowledge she may have gained at Trials is using the optimal tech suit, but her competitors do as well so I am fine with it.
Tim
She's making all these waves now, but what happened 8/9 months ago at Trials?
She swam pretty well at trials and I think she swam a bit faster later in the Summer. I think she made the finals in at least one event and did PBs. Maybe trials was a good learning experience for her and she realized there were some things she needed to improve and she then went home and made some adjustments. Anyway, I am sure she will adapt to international competition soon enough and she might have a rough meet or two before she figures it out. I seem to recall Katie Hoff had a tough time in some of her first international meets. Let's be patient and see what happens - it might take a little while for her to gain enough experience to do well at the international level and/or even to qualify for Worlds.
Tim
I seem to remember hearing that she made finals in the 200 IM at Oly Trials!
Yeah, I think she swam something like a 2:13 for 7th place at Trials, but in early January this year she swam a 2:10 high at Junior Pan Pacs. That is a pretty good drop in 6 months and she had a similar time drop in her 200 Free. I can't imagine she was too disappointed with how she did at Trials given her age and prior experience.
Tim
