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Aurora native chases Olympic dream

By Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 14, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Jessica Rodriquez gives her dad, Frank Rodriquez, a hug at their home in Austin, Texas. Jessica, a former member of the Mission Aurora Colorado Swim Team who helped lead Cherry Creek High School to two state swimming titles, is closing in on a cherished goal - to swim for her country at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez / Special To The Rocky

Jessica Rodriquez gives her dad, Frank Rodriquez, a hug at their home in Austin, Texas. Jessica, a former member of the Mission Aurora Colorado Swim Team who helped lead Cherry Creek High School to two state swimming titles, is closing in on a cherished goal - to swim for her country at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

Jessica Rodriquez, who had a breakout effort at the Pan American Games in 2007, churns through anotherlap while training with the Longhorn Aquatics club at the sprawling University of Texas pool in Austin.

Jessica Rodriquez, who had a breakout effort at the Pan American Games in 2007, churns through anotherlap while training with the Longhorn Aquatics club at the sprawling University of Texas pool in Austin.

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Jessica Rodriquez fell into stride with her American teammates last August as they entered the pool area at the 2007 Pan American Games.

A few minutes later, she almost fell to her knees.

Rodriquez was only seconds from swimming the opening leg of the 800-meter freestyle relay, an anxious moment even for an athlete familiar with the emotional tripwires of international competition.

But at 17, with little experience outside the U.S., the former Cherry Creek High School student felt the tension of the moment grab her like a cramp.

"Since I was swimming first, I had to get us ahead," she said. "There was a lot of pressure. My teammates were encouraging me, saying, 'It's all right.' But I was shaking when I got up on the blocks."

As soon as Rodriquez hit the water, though, she was back in her element, leading the Americans to an easy victory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and instantly transforming herself into a candidate for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

Rodriquez also won the 400 freestyle - on her birthday, no less - another ESPN moment for the bashful Aurora native, who could celebrate her 18th birthday at the Beijing Games with the ultimate bling, an Olympic medal.

"I'm on the fringe of making it," said Rodriquez, who lives and trains in Austin.

That might be an understatement, said her coach, Randy

Reese, who has developed more than 60 Olympians through the years, including Tracy Caulkins and Mary Wayte at Florida, where he won four NCAA titles.

"She ranks among the top five, top eight of the girls I've had the opportunity to coach. She's that great," said Reese, now the coach of Longhorn Aquatics in Austin.

"The easiest place - not that there's an easy place - to (qualify for the Olympics) would be the 800 free relay. But I think she has a shot in individual events. We're actually training for four events. We just have to make sure she makes the improvement, stays healthy and keeps training like she has."

'They don't have fins'

On the deck of the University of Texas' massive pool, where professional, college and age- group swimmers just have finished their afternoon workouts, it's tough to take a couple of steps without bumping into an Olympic medalist.

Overseeing the scene is Texas coach Eddie Reese, Randy's brother, who, in Beijing, will coach his third Olympic team.

Catching his breath on one end is Aaron Piersol, who won two golds in the backstroke at the 2004 Athens Games. Nearby are Brendan Hansen, who medaled in three events there; and Neil Walker and Ian Crocker, who also won gold.

"It's good for (Rodriquez) to train in the same pool," Randy Reese said. "She sees they don't have fins."

Added Rodriquez: "Everyone is competitive. Everyone is working hard. There's always someone to push you if you're having an off day."

Unfazed by her surroundings, Rodriquez moves through the crowd with the same businesslike efficiency she displayed a decade ago with the Mission Aurora Colorado Swim Team.

"We could tell at 8 she was going to be special," Mission coach Andy Niemann said. "She was very disciplined, very strong, very competitive and she had a little better feel for the water. She definitely did not like to lose."

Frank Rodriquez wanted his daughter to play volleyball, his favorite sport. But he quickly fell in line, watching Jessica earn a No. 1 national ranking at 10 and 12, set a national age-group record at 12, win the high-point award at junior nationals at 13, and earn a spot on the U.S. junior team at 14.

"I was getting letters and e- mails from college coaches," Niemann said. "I had to write back she's in eighth grade.

"It was just plain determination. She was just highly motivated. And her (parents) have always been super-supportive. If I called a Sunday practice, she'd always be the one who'd be there. Her mom was always on her about her school work. There were times she'd be studying at 1 a.m. and be at practice at 5."

Fatherly support

Rodriquez helped Cherry Creek win back-to-back championships, then moved with her family after her sophomore year to Austin, where Reese's demanding workouts often left her dazed with exhaustion.

"At first I was kind of upset," she said. "I definitely missed my old teammates. I swam with them for 11 years. They were like my second family. But I always liked change. I saw it as an opportunity to improve my swimming."

Rodriquez's father drives her to and from school, prepares her lunch so she can nap before practice, then takes her to the UT pool, where he sits in the upper bleachers, watching her grind out lap after lap, day after day.

The long grind continues at home, over a pile of textbooks, for Rodriquez, a superior student who received scholarship offers from schools such as Princeton and the U.S. Military Academy before choosing Stanford.

"She's very intelligent, which makes it a lot easier to train her," Randy Reese said. "When you're talking to her, she's understanding what you're saying and it doesn't take two months to get her to change something. She's very aware of what's going on.

"In other words, you might suggest that someone start the last 25 (meters) going all out with their legs. But maybe that's not going to be soon enough in the actual race. So she might go all out 35 meters out; she makes very good decisions in the heat of a race."

Breakthrough race

Rodriquez's No. 1 event is the 200 freestyle, which requires speed and endurance. A swimmer who ranks among the nation's top eight in the event has a good shot of earning one of four spots, or a backup role, on the 800-meter Olympic relay.

But six months ago, Rodriquez couldn't crack 2:02, well off the probable qualifying time at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials this summer in Omaha.

"I'd been stuck at that time for a year," she said. "I kept saying, 'There has to be a breakthrough.' I was hoping the Pan Am Games might be it."

Not only did Rodriquez crack the 2:02 mark, she finished her leg in the 800 relay in less than 2:00, delivering nearly a four-second lead to her teammate.

"I never imagined it," she said. "I was so nervous; it was definitely my adrenaline. It definitely put me at a higher level. It definitely opened up possibilities. It showed me anything is possible."

latimerc@RockyMountainNews.com

Short strokes

* Olympic swimming hopeful Jessica Rodriquez plays a word association game with Rocky reporter Clay Latimer:

Rocking out Guns and Roses

Austin Longhorns

Beijing Only one thing

Country music Toby Keith

Britney Spears sister Jamie Lynn

Favorite TV show Food Channel

Ultimate meal Seafood pasta

Hero Jenny Thompson

Aurora My old team

Pool party

* QUALIFYING

What: U.S. Olympic swimming trials.

When: June 29-July 6.

Where: Qwest Center Omaha (for the first time, takes place in a temporary pool at an indoor facility).

Who: 1,100 swimmers will compete. Top two in each final make U.S. Olympic team.

Projected attendance: 150,000 to 175,000 (15 sessions).

Television: NBC/USA

* RETURNING STANDOUTS

Start with Michael Phelps, left, perhaps the greatest swimmer of all time, and Natalie Coughlin, who came up with the best single Olympics for a female U.S. swimmer in Athens.

* LOOKING BACK The U.S. earned 28 medals - 12 gold, nine silver, seven bronze - with wins in more than one-third of the 32 events in 2004 in Athens.