Swimmers Katie Mann and Grace Ni are at the crossroads.
Each is about to leave behind the better part of their youths spent swimming laps at the Prince George Aquatic Centre for the next phase of their lives as university athletes.
Unfailing dedication to their Prince George Barracudas Swim Club workouts has paved the way to paid college education.
Mann will attend the University of New Hampshire this fall and Ni is on her way to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby.
They are scholarship students but both have paid their dues -- in sweat equity. Mann has been a Barracudas swimmer for 13 years and Ni in her 10th season with the club.
"I think we swim a quarter of the world's circumference in five years -- we didn't do the same distances when I was younger but still..." said Mann, a Duchess Park secondary school graduate.
"It's been a tough journey, especially with high school and having a job and doing all that at once, but it's been rewarding. It's shaped me into a a stronger and better person, being able to hold up to all the stresses that come at me."
This week at the age group national championships in Montreal, Mann is swimming her last meet as a Barracuda. This fall, Mann will be competing in the NCAA Division 1 America East Athletic Conference. Her Durham, N.H.-based Wildcats team will also enter dual meets against Ivy League swimmers.
"I'm getting really excited, I already know my roommates and all the details at school, and when I get to Montreal my [Wildcats] coach and assistant coach will be there watching," said Mann, 18, who will study liberal arts at New Hampshire.
"I think it will be a really good change. I'll be competing a lot more often as part of a big team. You're no longer competing for yourself, you're competing for a team."
Ni, a just-turned 17-year-old D.P. Todd graduate, will start out at SFU majoring in sciences, with designs on a career in medicine as a cardiologist. While their paths won't cross again until the Olympic team trials in Montreal in March 2012, Ni is hopeful she will see Mann again in the pool after SFU passes its NCAA probation and becomes a full-fledged member school for the 2012-13 season.
"The program is really strong, they have three coaches and you get more individual coaching than here, where it's a big group," said Ni. "The swimmers are more focused and they're closer in age. Right now we have a lot of younger swimmers in the club -- Katie and I and Kailey Tress are the only older ones.
"I'm just looking forward to more competitions, because I don't do that many meets now. Practice obviously gets tedious, but when you go to a swim meet it makes every practice so worth it."
Ni finished high school in 11 years, so she still has another year of eligibility for age group provincial and national competitions. Next year's provincial meet will be in Surrey and she plans to be there in her Barracudas cap.
"Jerzy [Barracudas head coach Partyka] said he could enter me in a few meets and next year I want to swim with the club in the summer and stay in close contact with the club, because they're like family," Ni said. "I had a good meet in Victoria [at the triple-A provincial championships] and I got a lot of best times, more than I expected, and that gave me confidence going into the national meet."
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES BEGIN
The age group meet started Wednesday and runs through Sunday. The 1,700-swimmer event is being held in an outdoor pool at Parc Jean Drapeau on Montreal Island.
In Montreal, Ni is ranked 19th nationally in the 100m backstroke and 20th in the 200m back. Mann, a breaststroke and backstroke specialist, has a top-15 ranking in seven events, and is ranked ninth in the 200m breaststroke and 400 IM.
As late as last week she wasn't planning to go, but changed her mind.
"I was just going to hang out here and practice with myself but I'd rather end it with a bang than with a whimper and go there to give it one last shot," said Mann.
"I would love to shock some people and come out of nowhere in a couple events, I'm hoping to medal or get the final in an event that's a little bit different for me."
