Just keep swimming

Finnigan competes in NCAA nationals

FAST — Liberty swimmer Alicia Finnigan  nished in 31st place in the 200  y at NCAA nationals March 18. Photo Credit: Nathan Spencer

FAST — Liberty swimmer Alicia Finnigan finished in 31st place in the 200 y at NCAA nationals March 18.
Photo Credit: Nathan Spencer

Currently things are going just swimmingly for Alicia Finnigan.

A sophomore member of Liberty’s swimming and diving team, Finnigan recently competed in the NCAA Swimming & Diving Nationals, setting the fastest 200 fly by a Lady Flame at 1:57.37, beating the previous record of 1:58.76 set by Jess Reinhardt in 2014.

“The whole team benefits from that,” Finnigan said.

“They can say ‘Liberty went to NCAA,’ it’s not ‘Alicia went to the NCAA.’”

Finnigan has been swimming since she was four years old and has set a goal to constantly improve.

“I feel like I always knew how to swim,” Finnigan said.

“I had a natural talent for it, and I was pretty coachable growing up. I joined the year-round team, and as I started progressing through the groups really quickly I was the youngest one in my group always.”

By the time she was 12, Finnigan started to train with the highest group in her team and began dreaming of making Olympic trials.

Finnigan held on to her aspirations until she hit a rut when she was 14 or 15 where she stopped improving.

“Once I stopped improving it was like I dropped to the bottom,” Finnigan said.

“I was still qualified for junior nationals, but there are events I had been qualified for since I was 12.”

Finnigan believes she was stuck because her natural growth stopped which, was a large contributor to her rapid improvement.

“I adopted this mindset of ‘I’m the youngest, so I shouldn’t have to be the fastest in the group,’” Finnigan said.

“It just didn’t lead to good training at all and I would constantly let myself get beat, and that’s not where you want to be when you’re trying to get better.”

The stunting lasted for close to two years before Finnigan started improving through her passion for coaching.

“When I was (coaching) I was helping these athletes who were kind of like me, who were having trouble knowing how to improve, and I was giving them this advice. Finally it was clicking with me,” Finnigan said.

“I was taking my own advice, and that kind of helped pull me out of my slump.”

Coming to Liberty in 2015, Finnigan found a new home to cultivate her swimming aspirations with a close-knit team.

“We are legitimately a family,” Finnigan said.

“When we get together and we’re training together, we are one very cohesive unit.”

After qualifying for Olympic trials this past summer, Finnigan made the cut for the NCAA Nationals by setting her lifetime best and program best time of 1:56.15 at the Bulldog Last Chance Meet in Athens, Georgia Feb. 26.

Arriving as the fourth Lady Flame to ever attend Nationals, Finnigan described how unique it was to be swimming with people she was accustomed to competing against and the different challenges the conference presented.

“I knew that there wasn’t going to be any training in that weeks’ time where I could get stronger,” Finnigan said.

“I just had to trust in my training.”

Finnigan finished 31st in the 200 fly out of 48 entrants, and 50th in the 100 fly.

Finnigan’s teammates noted how much promise she shows as a swimmer.

“She’s probably the most determined swimmer I’ve ever met,” teammate Siani Null said.

“Once she sets her mind to a goal that she’s made for herself, she’s going to accomplish it.”

Beyond swimming, Finnigan is recognized by her teammates for her encouraging and positive demeanor.

“I love what she always does before a race,” teammate Elizabeth Magnusson said.

“She’s always smiling. She never goes into a race with negative thoughts.”

Assistant Coach Jessica Barnes said Finnigan has set herself apart with the way she approaches the sport.

“She’s very strong when it comes to the mental game,” Barnes said.

“She swims the longer events, so sometimes they can be mentally more challenging — especially the 200 fly.”

Liberty’s involvement in nationals holds a lot of promise for the swimming and diving team that looks to expand next semester, starting with the installation of a natatorium with an Olympic-sized training pool in the new indoor track and field facility.

“The new pool is going to draw a lot of faster recruits because every major program is going to have a facility like the one that we are going to have,” Null said.

“I see our team getting a lot faster and competing at even a higher level than we are now.”

Looking to the future, Finnigan said she aspires to be in the top eight at nationals and has high hopes for the program expanding and competing at a higher level.

“I’m excited for what this team is doing,” Finnigan said.

“We’re definitely moving forward — we’re not complacent.”

Panyard is a sports reporter.

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