https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/SWIMMING-THE-DREAM-Grinter-set-for-Olympic-Trials-12598023.php
SWIMMING THE DREAM: Grinter set for Olympic Trials
Grinter set for Olympic Trials
Pete Hayes, phayes@civitasmedia.com
Published 7:58 pm CDT, Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Grinter
EDWARDSVILLE — It's a daily ritual for Bailey Grinter. Roll out of bed just after dawn, head to the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center and do her best to get ready for the biggest moment of her young life.
The U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials.
Grinter, 17, will leave Saturday for Omaha, were she'll do her best to show she belongs on the same stage - or in the same water - with some of the best swimmers in the world. The Trials will begin Sunday and continue through July 3.
She's swimming the dream.
"I'm starting to get a little nervous, to tell the truth," Grinter said after her early Wednesday morning workout with the Breakers at the CFAC. "I've never been to the Olympic Trials, not even to watch. I now it will be different from anything I've ever experienced."
Indeed. The talented Grinter qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter backstroke and 50-meter freestyle. At stake will be spots on the U.S. Swim Team for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
She swam her qualifying times last year in separate meets. She achieved the 100 backstroke qualifying time last July with a time of 1:03.36 at the US Swimming Summer Sectionals at Mizzou. She swam her 50-meter freestyle qualifying time in December when she posted a time of 26.05 seconds at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center Senior Invitational.
At the 20012 Olympic Trials, the top time in the 50 freestyle was 24.50 seconds by Jessica Hardy. In the 100 backstroke, Missy Franklin posted the top time of 58.85.
"I'm closer in the free than in the backstroke," said Grinter, a two-time Telegraph Swimmer of the Year. "I'd have to drop a second or a second and a half in the free, but I'd have to cut three seconds off my backstroke time. That's a lot.
"You can drop a lot of time all at once when you're a little kid, but when you get to this point, it comes off in tiny amounts."
Grinter said she has had plenty of time to ponder her first Olympic experience.
"I have had this in the back of my mind for almost year," Grinter said, "but last week it kicked in that it was just two weeks away from being in Omaha.
"Making the Olympics had been a dream of mine since I was little," Grinter said. "I think probably every little kid thinks like that, though."
But they don't all get as close to it as Grinter has done.
Franklin, was 17 at those 2012 Olympic Trials.
"She's someone I guess I've looked up to and wanted to be like," Grinter said. "But when I was watching her when I was younger, I didn't think I could be as fast as her or that I'd be swimming in the same Trials as her."
Rettle will accompany Grinter to the Trials, as well as Breakers assistant coach and EHS head coach Christian Rhoten. Her parents, April and Greg Grinter, are also attending.
Grinter isn't the only area swimmer who'll be in Omaha. Former TCAY Tidalwaves and Summers Port Sharks swimmer Christian Aragona is also a qualifier.
Grinter will swim the 100 backstroke on Monday and the 50 freestyle on Friday, meaning some time between her events. But she said not to get the idea she'll be sightseeing in the interim. She will train every day.
In preparing for the Trials, Rettle has had Grinter on a regimen that has worked for her in the past.
"I started tapering early," said Grinter, who swam in the Clayton Shaw Park Invitational last weekend. "A longer taper tends to help me get ready best."
Tapering is swimming lingo for cutting down the distance at workouts while increasing the intensity in preparation for a meet. It means more quality swims and is more like areal race than simply swimming laps.
"I know the times will be incredibly fast there," Grinter said. "It will definitely be a new experience. I think since it's my first time, I really want to experience it all, do my best and see where it falls.
"Then, I want to go back when I'm in college and really see what I can do."
Reach Pete Hayes at 463-2500 or Twitter @HayeserPete