Sports


	A swimming success

	Mudgetâs six times leading team to California

	By Nick Garner The Metropolitan

	When people look at the Metro womenâs swimming times and see that sophomore Cari Mudget leads the team in six of the 14 events, they might think she had already qualified for nationals. That is not the case. Mudget will enter the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 11-14 with the fastest times on the team in the womenâs 500 freestyle, 1,000 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and the 200 butterfly. But none of the times qualify her for nationals. ãIâm not surprised,ä swimming coach Rob Nasser said. ãWhen she was at the Iowa Invitational, she had three days to rest up. After the meet, Cari had lowered most, if not all, her times considerably.

	ãShe has had over two weeks to rest for conference. I figure that she should lower her times even more.ä Mudget, who transferred to Metro from Niagara College in New York before this season, gets to work on all the events by swimming in one ÷ the individual medley. ãWhen you look at the times and see that she is the leader in six events, it does not mean that she swims six events every meet we have,ä Nasser said. ãThe times have came in different meets throughout the season. ãHer best events are the breaststroke and the individual medley. In the IM, she has to use different styles of swimming (backstroke, butterfly, free style, breaststroke) which just shows how versatile she really is.ä Mudget learned to be flexible at an early age with the help of her family. Mudgetâs older brothers and sister are swimmers. Hoping to continue the tradition, Mudget started swimming singles ÷ where she would only practice in the mornings ÷ when she was 3 and continued for the next nine years. For the past six years, she has swum doubles ÷ practicing twice a day and lifting weights. ãI accomplished many things when I was younger,ä Mudget said. ãFor example, when I was 8, I was runner-up at state (in Nevada); and when I was 13, I started swimming doubles (the high school and college level).ä Mudget achieved much while in high school. At Carson High School in Nevada, her team was the state champion for four straight years, and when Mudget was a sophomore, she qualified for Junior Nationals. Besides working hard at her swimming, Mudget has always worked hard in the classroom. While at Carson, she had a 3.78 GPA and was on National Honor Society. In her only year at Niagara College, she made the Deanâs List with a 3.43 cumulative GPA. Mudget is taking 15 credit hours and baby-sits for a friend three days a week from the time the kids wake up until swimming practice at 3:15 p.m. During the fall semester, Mudget and her teammates practiced twice a day, the first coming at 5 a.m. She also sacrificed her Sundays, along with other members of the team to work Denver Broncos games as an usher. ãThe work load is very hard,ä Mudget said. ãThere was more to do in the fall, when we had to do volunteer work. The spring will be much easier, I hope.ä Mudget loves to compete, and her attitude ÷ when it comes to swimming ÷ shows that. ãIf I donât do it, nobody will.ä