Elizabeth Pepper, 16, made waves at the PVS championships in College Park last month. This week she's trying to do the same thing on the national level at the U.S. Open. (Courtesy of Cameron Mackail)
Three weeks ago, Elizabeth Pepper, 16, flourished at the PVS Long Course Senior Championships at the University of Maryland. The RMSC standout won two events, the 400-meter freestyle and the 200 butterfly. Before traveling last weekend to Federal Way, Wash., for the U.S. Open, Pepper discussed how she prepared for the meet, why she loves swimming (and a certain boisterous country musician) and why staying in the pool is necessary to her health.
1. What is it like being 16 and competing against older people – and beating them? It’s kind of just like swimming against anyone your own age. I try to not think about it because it gets intimidating. So I try to just think about them as other people.
2. Describe the feeling of winning a race. You touch the wall, raise from the water, turn to the board and then… What? It’s really exhilarating actually. I get really excited. I’ll be finished, I’ll be really tired and then I won’t be tired anymore. And I’ll be really excited.
3. Is there anyone you particularly like to compete against? Any rivalries? It’s not really a rivalry, but I really like to race Kaitlin Pawlowicz because she’s really fast. I like to be able to race her because it gives me a goal.
4. What are you most excited for about the U.S. Open? I’m really excited for the 200 fly. I really want to final because I’m not that far away from finaling in the seedings.
5. What have you been doing to prepare for the U.S. Open? I’ve been practicing a lot of 200 fly, [swimming] a lot of broken sets to get my speed and endurance.
6. What’s the best advice a coach ever gave you? At juniors in the spring my coach told me that I need to become more mentally tough, that if I did bad in one race it doesn’t mean my whole day is going to be totally bad. I just need to forget about it and move on to the next race.
7. Do you have any pre-race rituals or superstitions? Not really. I just kind of do whatever I feel like doing. Sometimes I just get really excited and I just talk to my friends and jump around a lot, and other times I’m just really quiet, really solemn and not really excited at all.
8. Why are you driven to be a competitive swimmer? I really like the competition, just the competitive atmosphere. I just really like racing people and beating them. And losing sometimes is good to because I can set goals for next time
9. What do you consider your greatest swimming accomplishment? I made the cut for 2008 trials and while that doesn’t do a lot of good now – because it’s 2009 – I guess that’s probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done now.
10. How did you get into swimming? I live in Poolesville and there’s really nothing else to do in the summer than join your summer team. I joined the summer team and I really enjoyed it, so I started swimming winter and it sort of expanded.
11. Is there one moment you remember that you thought, “OK, I’m going to be really good at this?” Not really, just because I’ve always raced against people who are faster than me in like my club. Even now there’s so many people faster than me. I don’t really think of myself as that great.
12. What kind of goals do you set for yourself in swimming? Usually just dropping time. I tend to really set really high goals, in dropping a lot of time, so I don’t usually achieve a lot of them.
13. What are some of your favorite activities outside of the pool? Well actually I ride horses but actually other than that I don’t really do anything because I have a tendency to hurt myself. I’m really clumsy so I really don’t do any land activities. Like I fall or trip. Like one time I sprained my wrist from falling. A lot of injuries.
14. Can you describe your training regimen? I think I swim like two to three hours a day. It kind of depends on how many practices I have a day. If I have two, it’s like three-and-a-half hours at least.
15. During the school year, how do you balance that with your classes? I try to just do as much of my homework as I can during downtime so I can go to bed early and rest.
16. Do you have a favorite stroke to swim? Definitely butterfly. Everything else is not as much fun. I feel like in freestyle you do a lot of distance and I really don’t like doing distance.
17. What’s the worst part about being a competitive swimmer? I’m always tired, from all the practices and all of the intensity. I’m just really tired all of the time and I don’t get enough sleep. I don’t think you can get enough sleep, actually.
18. You swim for Poolesville in the Montgomery County Swim League as well as for RMSC. What do you like about summer leagues that your year-round club doesn’t offer? It’s more like team-oriented. There’s a lot more cheering and lot more excitement. Whereas in winter it’s a lot more individualized. It’s not as exciting for other people when you do well and it’s not as exciting for you when other people do well.
19. What are your career aspirations? I actually have no idea and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. I have no idea, actually, at all.
20. If you could challenge anybody in history to a race in the pool, who would it be? Maybe Toby Keith, because I’ve always wanted to meet him and he’s my favorite person of all time.
Bonus question: What is your favorite Toby Keith song: Umm, I really like God Love Her.
Tags: Kaitlin Pawlowicz
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