Underwater with the Toreros

Going off the deep end, diving into USD swimming

Jarek Morgan / Assistant Sports Editor / The USD Vista

At 6 a.m., most Torero students would be hitting their snooze button at least once, while the others are still sound asleep. However, for some student athletes, this is the time where all the hard work that goes unnoticed happens. 

After a long offseason, the Torero swimming and diving team is ready to get back in the water. Their fall schedule consists of early alarm clocks, morning lift followed by practice, breakfast, school, lunch, practice, dinner, homework, bed and repeat. Swimming is a sport that demands a lot of your free time, making it difficult to manage a student’s work load. Our education is so important for one’s development into future opportunities, yet it can be tough for student athletes to find time for schoolwork. But in reality, despite the tough work-life balance, USD swimmers can also be excellent students too.

As a biology major, senior swimmer, Haley Ohlson, reflected on how she balances training and academics at the highest level. 

“Starting in middle school and onwards, I’ve always dealt with such time consuming practices that I’ve learned to grow with the sport I love, and appreciate my academics along the way,” Ohlson said. “The value of swimming is that it teaches you how to obtain a great sense of time management. Working through the late hours is just what comes with being a successful student.” 

The swimming and diving team’s season begins in early September, and stretches into late February. Between the months of December and January while students and faculty are at home enjoying the holidays, the team is hard at work preparing for their next event. Training up to 20 plus hours a week and swimming on an average 8,000 yards per day or about 4.5 miles, it is fair to assume camaraderie  comes naturally to these student-athletes. 

As captain and one of the leaders of the swim team, Ohlson tries to foster togetherness with her teammates to better build those lifelong friendships. 

“When we are here in the quiet months, that is when we become the closet,” Ohlson said. “We are all there to build each other up on the long days. We all become better than friends, we become like sisters.” 

Having a successful team means enjoying all those little things together, whether it be long practices, fun movie nights, or enjoying music and dance with your teammates. As the team prepared to depart for the Lancer Aquatic Center in Riverside, CA for their meet against Seattle University and Cal Baptist on Oct. 21 one of the swimmers rolled out a speaker that looked like a small carry-on luggage, and lifted it onto the bus. 

“We have so much fun traveling together, and we all play fun pregame songs,” Ohlson said. “I personally love ‘Bonfire’ by Childish Gambino, but Coach typically won’t allow that to be played on the bus.” 

As a senior, Ohlson recognizes that as one chapter ends, a new chapter is set to begin. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Ohlson plans to enroll in a graduate program in order to eventually become a genetic counselor. This profession consists of assessing individual or family risk for a variety of inherited conditions. 

Ohlson reflected on all the opportunities and great experiences that USD gave her; she happily spoke to her former freshman self just arriving to campus for the first time. 

“In my senior year, I’ve been reflecting a lot on what I’ve experienced over the past four years,” Ohlson said. “I’ve asked myself what would happen if I chose this path or that path, but being on this team the last four years I can honestly say that this has been so foundational to my experience at USD.” 

At the end of the day, Ohlson has a wonderful outlook of her time here at USD. 

“All I can say is that I’m so thankful and so excited to go where USD has put me in the position to be,” Ohlson said.

Post college, when you are reflecting back on your college experience, hopefully the only thing you should want to change is that you wish you had more time to do it all over again. 

The next time you will see the swimming and diving team in the pool is Oct. 30 when they take on Loyola Marymount University. Stay tuned for more information this season.