On Saturday, Cal Poly women’s swim team captain Stacey Sorensen swam in the last meet of the season – and of her college career – at the Big West Conference Championships.
Four years of intense athletic training comes to an abrupt end with graduation looming. Now Sorensen has to decide if her days as a swimmer are over or if she is going to begin training for the Olympic trials because, as she says, she has “always loved competing.”
“Stacey will be missed so much on the team,” sophomore teammate Chanae Rodriguez said. “There were tears at the conference meet, when we all began to realize this was her last meet and her college swimming career was finished.”
Sorensen’s swimming career began at age 8, when her elementary school friends convinced her to join the local summer league team in San Rafael. Even though all of her friends dropped out, she stuck with it.
“There was no push from home for her to continue swimming,” said Sorensen’s mother, Pam Sorensen. “It was just something she wanted to do. She doesn’t like to run or hike, but she can swim for hours.”
Monday through Friday, Sorensen meets with her team at 6 a.m. for practice, then again at 3 p.m. for a second round of practice. There is also a morning practice every Saturday.
“Our coach is extremely tough and gives us workouts each day that challenge our strength to even finish them,” Rodriguez said. “Our coach knows what he is doing. He has trained many champions over his coaching career, so we as a team trust his judgment.”
During the season, September through February, the women’s swim team competes at swim meets almost every weekend. When everyone goes home for winter break, the team is at Cal Poly training for two hours, twice a day.
“Our team is like a family. We are with each other more than some families are, so we share a lot of memories and good times together,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes I wonder what I am doing wasting my whole college life at a pool, working my butt off, but then I remember I have 40 awesome friends/teammates there with me every day, doing the same thing.”
Sorensen spent the past two summers training with head coach Tom Milich every morning. Although Sorensen would like a summer break, she says the non-stop training is necessary.
“After a week of being out of the water, it hurts to get back in,” she said. “I’ll feel like I’m not going anywhere. I’m taking strokes and nothing’s happening. At the end of the season, we’re in water constantly, almost every day. Because if we lose that feeling, there goes everything.”
Last year, Sorensen set three Cal Poly records in one day for the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle.
“Stacey pushes herself in practice when necessary, and her times reflect it,” Rodriguez said. “She has a fast arm speed-turnover rate, and heart to beat out the competition next to her, and that is what makes her a great swimmer.”
Sorensen credits her swimming success to her competitive personality.
“I’ve always been competitive with my brothers,” she said. “Even in school, I’ll have a class with a friend and I’ll be like, ‘What did you get on the test?'”
“If she sees someone who is doing something better than her, she takes it to the next level,” Pam Sorensen said. “She doesn’t like to be beat.”
While juggling all of her responsibilities, Stacey Sorensen has little time for much of a social life.
“I just feel like I have the rest of my life to do that and I can only swim for so long,” she said. “And I really enjoy it so it hasn’t bothered me to give up those other things.”
Pam Sorensen explained that Stacey has made the Dean’s List every quarter since she’s been at Cal Poly.
Of the Olympic trials possibility, Sorensen said, “I probably will do it because it would be such a great experience, just to say that I tried it. But it’s hard now that I could be done.”