Friday, May. 16, 2008

Relaxed approach serves Eggers well

Michelle Eggers was a nervous wreck during an early season swim meet at Emporia last year.

That was nothing new. Eggers, a junior at Olathe East at the time, always got stressed out when she thought about how badly she wanted to swim fast and improve her times. It was just part of her personality — the ambitious drive to do her absolute best that had also helped her attain a GPA above 4.0 in the classroom.

At this particular meet, though, something went seriously wrong.

Eggers suddenly started having trouble breathing and suffered, in her words, “kind of like a seizure.”

“It was a little scary,” Eggers said.

Eggers took a couple meets off after that, including the Olathe Invitational.

She seemed to be fine physically, but the episode at Emporia had made her and coach Dave Youker a bit gun-shy.

A number of medical studies have shown that stress can manifest itself as a physical illness at times, or at least exacerbate underlying conditions.

There’s no proof that’s what happened in Eggers’ case, but she seems convinced that the pressure she put on herself at least played a role.

She returned to the pool later in the season, though, qualified for state for the third time and even took 12th at the state meet in her top event, the 500-yard freestyle.

Still, Eggers was tired of stressing out over times and state rankings; tired of worrying about college scholarships and her place in East’s impressive swimming tradition. She returned for her senior season with one goal: have fun.

As it turns out, it’s actually made Eggers a better swimmer. At the Sunflower League meet last week she took third in the 200-yard freestyle, fourth in the backstroke and was on a fourth-place and a fifth-place relay.

Noting that there were three swimmers seeded well ahead of her in the 500 anyway, Eggers decided to try the backstroke instead to add variety to her meet and because, “The 500 free is just more stressful.”

Eggers is avoiding stress as much as she can this year, but still working hard. In fact, she’s become the type of leader that the younger Hawks look up to because she swims fast and drops time but does it with a relaxed smile now.

“She’s definitely a team leader and one that a lot of kids gravitate towards in a very positive way,” Youker said. “She’s kind of embraced the team attitude and the ‘Enjoy the ride,’ attitude instead of being such a focused kid. She’s been focused this year, but she’s also taken on those other elements.”

Eggers is leading an East squad that is still very solid, though it is increasingly overshadowed by the star-studded Olathe Northwest team across town. Still, with Eggers, Brianna Winkler, Betsy Karst, Kristen Hale and Morgan Lang leading the way, the Hawks have a chance to come home from state with some medals.

Eggers isn’t too concerned about that, though. She’s already got her scholarship to Ohio Northern University and is ready to enjoy her fourth trip to state in four years of high school swimming.

“I know where I’m going next year, so the pressure’s off,” Eggers said. “I’ve got a team waiting for me in Ohio. So, I’m just going to swim the best I can, and if I medal that’s awesome, but, if not, I’m still going to be happy.”

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