SWIMMING'S MACHALA DOUBLE-DIPS...
CLEVELAND, OH (November 29, 2007) - Junior Janine Machala (North, Olmstead, OH) is ready for the Case Western Reserve University's swimming and diving team to improve at the University Athletic Association championships this season.
“The UAA is the fastest conference in Division III,” said Machala, who competes in the breaststroke events. “We definitely have our work cut out for us every year against extremely tough competition.”
Out of the pool, Machala puts in plenty of time at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, consistently ranked among the best nursing schools in the country, preparing for her post-college career.
“You gain a lot of experience with the Case Western Reserve nursing school. This semester, we are practicing pediatrics and obstetrics, which is a lot of fun,” explained Machala. “There are a lot of fascinating things we get to see, including live births. We also help women at post-partum and help care for babies.”
During the summer, Machala worked as a nurse technician at Fairview Hospital where she assisted patients with morning and afternoon care. Next school year, she'll take part in a preceptorship and will start working in the emergency room, as she hopes to become an ER nurse.
“Clinicals take up eight hours of my day, twice a week, so I can't make it to every practice,” explained Machala. “Coach (Chris Conlon) realizes that school comes first. He does a great job of allowing us to balance our schedules. Not only is he very supportive to the entire team, but he really looks into what the team needs and is always searching for ways to make the team better.”
The Spartans practice twice a day during a grueling six-month schedule. However, the coaching staff does a nice job of mixing things up to take the monotony out of practices.
“Practices are different every single day. You rarely see the same set [of workouts],” said Machala. “We work a lot with stroke technique and speed, and each practice our team splits up into two main groups. One is for distance and stroke swimmers, and the other is for power swimmers and shorter distance swimmers, each group helps individualize what were shooting for at practice.”
Machala finished fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke event and seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke event at last years' UAA championships.
“I'm hoping to improve my times significantly this season,” explained Machala. “I'd like to place top-five in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events this year at UAAs. As a team, we are hoping to improve our finish in the conference, to get into the top-three in the overall team standings.”
Machala was the captain of North Olmstead High School's swimming team her senior year and has been swimming her entire life.
“I have very good endurance, so the 200-yard breaststroke is my best event. I've been swimming the 100-yard breaststroke since my freshman year of high school and am still dropping time,” exclaimed Machala.
Janine believes the Spartans have a legitimate chance to reach nationals.
“We really want to get our relay teams to nationals this season,” she explained. “Some of our returners have gotten faster and we have a very talented freshman class. We are all excited.”
The Spartans spend a lot of time together both in and out of the pool which helps create team unity.
“At the beginning of the year the [women's team members] had a retreat. We went to Dayton for the potato festival and ran a 5K together,” Machala said. “We have tons of team bonding activities which allows the older team members to get to know the new freshman.”
This weekend the Spartans travel south to Wooster, Ohio for the College of Wooster's annual three-day invite.
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