Here is a look at three top senior swimmers for Xavier who
are expected to lead the team with their experience and ability in the water.
They are Quinn Blake, Maddie Campbell and Jocelyn Jones.
Quinn Blake
She is looking forward to competing in the 50-yard freestyle
and 100-yard backstroke.
The team is expected to “be in the pool more,’’ she said,
rather than put a lot of focus on “dry-land training’’ such as being in the
weight room.
“We should be in the pool pretty much right away and I think
that we are more serious, really focused because of it,’’ Blake said.
Because there are so many freshmen this season, that puts
more emphasis on the leadership of Blake and the older swimmers.
“It is our job to help them feel more comfortable,’’ Blake
said. “And that goes beyond the pool. It’s our job to encourage them in
everything.’’
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| Xavier senior swimmer Quinn Blake. |
When Blake was a freshman, she had a senior cousin, Maddie
Grant, who treated her in a similar fashion.
Many of the summers such as Blake were with the Phoenix Swim
Club when new Xavier head coach Maureen Rankin was there.
“A lot of us know her, and we are excited that she is our
head coach,’’ Blake said.
She hopes to go to a big university next year, perhaps
Indiana University, where her father went. IU has an outstanding program that
has produced Olympic medal winners such as Lily King, but Blake is not sure if
she will attempt to swim there.
Maddie Campbell
Fast, fast, fast.
That’s how Campbell likes to work, in the 50- and 100-yard
freestyles.
It’s especially important that she gets off to a fast start,
“because it is difficult trying to make up for it if you don’t,’’ she said.
Like Blake and Jones, Campbell is a fourth-year senior. She
is looking forward to helping guide the younger swimmers.
“They bring a new energy and a lot
of them are really good,’’ Campbell said.
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| Xavier senior swimmer Maddie Campbell. |
She, too, is pleased that Rankin
is the coach.
“There is excitement here that we
have the possibility of being one of the biggest competitors in the state this
year,’’ she said. “You can sense that with the way we have been working so
far.’’
Having a quality facility such as
Brophy’s is a motivating factor.
“It’s nice to have something like
this so close to us,’’ she said of Xavier’s next-door neighbor.
Campbell will be traveling in an
interesting direction after graduation.
She expects to attend culinary
school at the National Gourmet Institute in New York City.
Campbell is a vegan, and the
school focuses on that aspect, she said. Ever since she can remember, she has
wanted to work with food. She has a fondness for desserts, but not too many, at
least in swimming season.
Jocelyn Jones
She likes the 50-yard freestyle
and 100-yard breaststroke, but also likes participating in some of the relay
events.
“You are racing for the team and
not just for you,’’ Jones said of the relays.
Much of her attention this summer
was on the Olympic swimmers, in order to possibly pick up things that might
help her.
Jones and some of her Xavier
teammates swam for a club team out of Moon Valley Country Club in north Phoenix
and are familiar with Rankin even though she did not coach them directly.
“Every time we swam against her
team, we could see that she was a quality coach,’’ Jones said.
The Gators appear to have a lot of
depth this year, and Jones said that should pay off in the long run.
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| Xavier senior swimmer Jocelyn Jones. |
The seniors “need to be there for
our teammates,’’ she said. “It’s always nice to be swimming toward the end of
the lane and having your teammates standing there and cheering for you. That’s
what we want to do. There are no negatives. That drags the whole team down.
“When I was a young swimmer, I
would look up to the seniors and say, “I want to be like that,’ and we hope
some of the younger girls will feel the same from watching us.’’
It is a tradition that her family
goes to Auburn in Alabama (grandfather, father, brother), and she is ready to
follow them. She hopes to hear if she is accepted by mid-October.
“They have a fast swim team, but I
also want to focus on academics,’’ said Jones, who hopes to study architecture.
