Whineray Walks Away Proud from a Major First

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Mar 21

All Day

Women's Swimming & Diving

vs NCAA Championships

ATLANTA – Firsts will always come with a feeling of grandeur.

Friday for Tess Whineray, this particular one was monumental in her career, yet the junior from New Zealand handled it with relative calm. There were still 20 minutes before she was set to jump in the water at the McAuley Aquatic Center for her inaugural swim at the NCAA Championships, so she sat in the stands and played a game on her phone, waved to her parents – Matt and Sandra – in the stands, and sent messages back and forth with her younger brother Stanley.

So much was new – her suit, a gift from Arena for the accomplishment of qualifying for the championships – was being worn for the first time. So new, in fact, she had forgotten to cut the tag off the suit and had to find scissors to do so before walking down to the starting blocks.

When she jumped into Lane 2 in the third heat of the 100-yard backstroke preliminaries, it was the first time that Arena Powerskin Primo had touched water. Same for her swim cap with the throwback Aggie logo glimmering in gold against the green backdrop.

The gun sounded and her debut was in motion.

She finished the race in 52.69 to finish 45^th, a bit slower than at conference and a performance she could think about. But mostly, she was proud of her race, exiting the pool in a smile before breaking it down with coach Christopher Woodard.

"I feel good. That was not what I hoped it would be, but I know from the taper and getting back up and coming down again it wasn't gonna be the amazing first race at NCAAs," Whineray said. "Mountain West, that was the best 100 back I've ever done, so my expectations were high, but I knew it wasn't gonna be where I wanted it.

"It was definitely a learning experience, especially swimming in a new pool, first race -- you never really know what's gonna happen. And I was really happy with where my head was at. I wasn't nervous or freaking out in my head behind the block."

Not at all, which is what Woodard noticed. He knows when she gets nervous she gets quiet, which she had been a touch in the days preceding her first NCAA race. He also noted she was doing everything else right, a process she had which would counteract some of the anticipated nervousness.

He also figures she was calculating other factors, being more of a cerebral swimmer.

"I think the hardest part is when you go to a conference meet and you're at that level that she is now at, you know you're guaranteed a second swim. You just execute, you're guaranteed a second swim, and so there's a period where you can analyze and adjust things and correct things, and she does really well with that," Woodard said. "Unfortunately in this event format, that's not likely to happen, so it is a situation where it's a pass/fail, like you have to go out, and you have gotten to execute your plan with no mistakes.
"I think there were a couple mistakes in there, but you know, she's level-headed enough to recognize that and then start planning for her next event. I think she did well. We're just going to have to work a little bit more on those underwaters late in the race."

Tess Whineray

She was already doing that. She had pegged those, as well as her first breakout. The best part Friday was a tuneup for her next race, the 200 backstroke on Saturday. Like the 100 event, she holds the school record. She's also the conference champion in the race and doubling the distance falls in line with her ability to analyze, build a plan and execute.

While she was warming down, her thoughts were already on the lessons learned and applying them.

"There's more time in this race to get the strategy and get comfortable and really settle into the fast arena," she said. "
The strategy is a big part of the 200, and the 100 is just let it go, and I wish I could be that sprinter, but I'm better at that strategizing part of it."

The hard part – it being a first – is out of the way. The race wasn't perfect, and the time wasn't what she had hoped to see, but it wasn't bad. Mostly, it gave her confidence for what comes next, and that's the race she's for which she's better suited.

She thought about it all, and she smiled. It was easy to do, because when she really thought about it, Whineray was proud of the way she handled the moment, the biggest she's had.

Hopefully, just a precursor for more of them to come.

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