University of Georgia Athletics
Turning Dreams Into Reality
July 01, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Right now in Omaha, Neb., and Eugene, Ore., Georgia Bulldogs — past, present and even future — are putting their countless hours of hard work to the test. They're competing for spots on the U.S. Olympic team, something that started out as a dream and over time evolved into something far more real and tangible: the next big goal, a really big one, on a list with many of them.
There's a moment, undoubtedly a memorable one, when the dream of making an Olympic team transitions from fantasy to reality, or at least possibility.
"I think it had to be last year at NCAAs, when I was able to score 6,223 despite coming off of my ankle situation," Georgia two-time NCAA champion heptathlete Kendell Williams said, when asked when she started to think that qualifying for the U.S. track and field team and competing in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was a real possibility.
Williams, then a sophomore, was battling an ankle injury when she arrived at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, but she still placed second with her score of 6.223. Williams won the heptathlon as a freshman and regained her title earlier this month, in Eugene, Ore., site of the U.S. Olympic Trials, which began Friday.
So what made her second-place showing at the 2015 NCAAs so significant?
"I felt like I still had so much more that I could have given," said Williams, also a three-time NCAA indoor pentathlon champion. "I felt like, if I can score 6,223 when I'm just kind of making it, I wonder what I could score if I were to put it all together.
"Finally seeing that big score and knowing that I had a lot more left in the tank, it got me really excited and thinking about, maybe I could score 6,500. That had to be the moment when I realized the Olympics were not as far away as it may seem."
At the Trials along with Williams will be a bunch of Bulldogs, including her older brother, decathlete Devon Williams. Also competing, and also fresh off another NCAA title, is triple jumper Keturah Orji, who set the American record (while bettering the NCAA record she'd set a few weeks before at the NCAA East Prelims) with a jump of 47 feet, 8 inches at the NCAA Championships. Orji, who also won the NCAA title as a freshman in 2015, is one of three finalists for the women's Bowerman Award, which is like track and field's Heisman Trophy.
Orji has competed for Georgia in the triple jump 17 times, winning 16 of those meets. She, quite literally, seems to be getting better with every meet, and in an Olympic year that's exactly what you want to be doing.
"I'm really excited about how I'm doing right now," Orji said prior to the NCAA Championships. "Last year, when I was thinking about this time, I was hoping that I could make the Olympics, but then my jump wasn't good enough to actually be competitive at the Olympics. I thought maybe I could qualify, but I wouldn't be competitive.
"Right now, with the way I'm jumping, I could probably get top eight and make the finals. I'm really excited about how everything is lining up and I didn't think I'd be jumping this far this year, so I'm really excited."
In track and field and swimming, the two sports in which Georgia has sent multiple athletes to the Olympic Trials, the lead-up to those trials is long and mentally and physically demanding. Swimming coach Jack Bauerle, who as of Friday afternoon has already had six swimmers qualify for Rio at the U.S. Trials, said it was last summer that he and his staff started putting together and implementing their training programs to prepare their swimmers for the Trials and the Olympics.
"We started making notations and writing certain things down," Bauerle said. "Then there was a constant daily reminder that everything was coming."
Not that the athletes went a day without thinking about what was ahead and what could be if all the pieces fell into place. Swimmer Olivia Smoliga, winner of two NCAA titles in March, made her Olympic dream a reality at the Trials in Omaha, winning the 100-meter backstroke.
Smoliga had a great build-up to the NCAAs and saw that rewarded. She had another great build-up to the Olympic Trials and that, too, has paid dividends.
"I feel like I've gotten so much more confidence throughout this season and that's driving me to Trials," she said before heading to Omaha. "Swimming in the last couple of meets we've had has given me a lot of confidence, as well. I'm still riding the wave, so to speak, from (NCAAs) to this point."
That hard work in the pool paid off for two Bulldogs on the first night of the swimming Trials, when Chase Kalisz took first and Jay Litherland took second in the 400 individual medley. Joining the two Dogs on the U.S. team are Smoliga, Hali Flickinger and former Bulldogs Allison Schmitt and Melanie Margalis.
Wednesday was a busy night for Margalis, with two finals on her slate. Two chances to make the Olympic team and two chances to put a year's worth of work to the test. Better and fitter than ever, Margalis said before the Trials that she was ready for the chance to make her dreams come true.
"I would definitely say the right now I'm in the best physical shape of my life. I'm so much stronger than I ever was, I have so much more muscle, so that's been cool," she said. "I think that's also helped me mentally, because now I'm trying to actually put my muscles into it when I'm swimming, which I don't think I ever did before, because I wasn't very strong. ... I just feel so much stronger in the water, and when you feel that way it just puts you in the best mental position."
That strength, mental and physical, was on display Wednesday night in the 200 individual medley final. On the top two swimmers in each event are guaranteed a spot on the team and when she made the final turn after 150 meters, Margalis was well outside the top two. A furious rally in the final 50 earned her second place and a spot in Rio; she may also make it onto a freestyle relay squad, as well.
While Georgia's swimmers have had to wait since the NCAAs wrapped up in March for their next huge meet, the track and field athletes were just out in Eugene a few weeks ago. The Georgia women got individual titles from Williams, Orji and long jumper Chanice Porter, leading to a third-place finish for the team.
It will be a busy stretch for both Devon and Kendell Williams, as well as their parents. The decathlon, which will also feature former Bulldog Garrett Scantling, starts Saturday and wraps up Sunday, while the heptathlon doesn't get going until a week from Saturday.
"It's been a long year, but it's scary that it's so close," Kendell Williams said last month. "It's something that you always dream about and you never think that the time will actually come, so, oh man, I'm now counting down the days to when I'm actually going to be there doing it.
"It should be fun and I'm glad (Devon) is going to be there alongside me. I think it's going to be a really cool experience, especially for our parents, being there and being able to watch us both."
Georgia's American swimmers have certainly proven that they were ready for the Trials, ready to make those dreams come true, and now it's the track and field athletes' turn.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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