Bard takes on new swimming role, makes it to state
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley State Bound Swimmer Meredith Bard will swim in her second consecutive state meet this week. She will compete in the 50-yard freestyle.

Thursday afternoon, Meredith Bard will begin her trip to Austin.

The drive to the state swim meet will take about 2 hours and 20 minutes - a fraction of the time it took her to completely change her swimming style and qualify for her second consecutive appearance at the Swimming State Championships.

Bard was at the state meet last year to compete in the 500-yard freestyle. She worked hard and trained her body to endure long distances and proved to be one of the best in Texas, finishing 16th.

When it was over, she undoubtedly was thinking about what she would do differently next year. Completely changing her swimming style was probably not on her mind.

This year, Bard has become a sprint swimmer and will compete Friday in the 50-yard freestyle at the preliminary round of the state meet.

Coach Richard Nava worked with Bard throughout the season to change her focus and help her succeed in the shorter distance.

"You have sprinters and you have long distance and that's it," Nava said. "You cannot train for long distance and expect to sprint and you cannot train for short distance and expect to do long distances.

"Hopefully our gamble has worked and we've converted her over to a sprinter and made her whole body into a sprinter's body. All her muscles are trained right now for this fast twitch and actually just go. There's no pace. The only pace you have in the 50 is all out."

Since the regional meet, Bard has been working to fine-tune her skills in order to burst through the water. In such a short race, it is the intricate details that can mean a major difference in speed.

"We've been doing a lot of turns, starts and sprint work so my body knows what to do whenever it's time to dive into the water," Bard said. "Since I'm swimming the 50, it's all about the sprint. The littlest mess-up can make your time get really slow. So the turns are really important. You want to have a quick turn and a quick start, but you want it to be clean at the same time, so practice makes perfect."

She is also working on her breathing. In short distances, the fewer times a swimmer breathes, the better.

"I'll probably (focus on) finishing off a race good and opening up my lungs to where I only have to breathe on the second 25 (yards) of the 50," Bard said. "In the 50, there's so little difference between times that (with) a breath, you lose part of your momentum."

As the state meet draws nearer, Bard is actually working less and less in her practices. Nava has her swimming in a system that helps build speed while gradually decreasing the intensity of workouts.

"Right now in this part of the season, the end of the season, we're doing what is called tapering," Nava said. "We've tapered since district to now. You're usually in about a 21-day taper. All that means is, you want to cut your workout a little bit to half and then a little more than that until you gradually get your workout down to just bare minimum.

"What that does is allow your muscles to recuperate from the beating you've taken during the year and your muscles regenerate and get back into shape. Actually, it kind of fools your mind and you think you're not working out because you're doing less and less, but you're actually giving your muscles time to recuperate."

By Friday, Bard should be at the completion of 21 days.

At the start of the meet, Bard is the 15th seed of 18 swimmers with a 25.79 time. She said having other swimmers placed ahead of her helps alleviate any pressure going into the meet.

"Well, I'm not seeded first and I usually swim better when I'm not because I know everybody thinks they're going to be the best," Bard said. "Not having the pressure of being ranked really high up there takes the pressure off of me and lets me focus more on the race and the time I need to swim to make it.

"I'm going for a 24. I'm practicing a lot and hopefully I'll make the championship finals. It's good to set your sights high so you're motivated."

Bard said she never swam the 50-yard freestyle in 24 seconds before.

The swim team traveled to Corpus Christi earlier this year and in the 200-yard freestyle relay, which consists of four girls swimming 50 yards, Nava said Bard practically swam in under 25 seconds, though the time does not show that.

He said a late start hindered her and had her barely above 25 seconds. If Bard can start, turn and finish strongly, Nava said he thinks she will meet her goal in a close competition.

"It will be at the wall," Nava said. "Meredith is literally a stroke and a half from first place. In swimming, you're looking at about three quarters of a second per stroke, so she's right there. It's just a matter of who touches the wall first. That's how close it is.

"You figure her 25.79 is within 79 hundredths of a 25 which the majority of the 18 (swimmers) is 25. She's right there. It's going to be her start, it's going to be her turn and it's going to be her finish. The middle part will take care of itself. … If she puts all those aspects together, a great start, a great middle, a great flip turn and a great finish, I see her breaking below 25."