Norris still has a chance to beat the best Norris still has a chance to beat the best (April 23, 2004)

by Rick Eymer

Stanford junior Katie Norris may have to wait another four years to get a chance to compete for the United States Olympic synchronized swimming team, but she won't have to wait long to test herself against the best Americans, including the current Olympic squad.

Norris, fresh off her NCAA championship in the solo event, will compete with the rest of her Cardinal teammates in the United States National meet, hosted by Stanford at Avery Aquatic Center beginning next Tuesday and continuing through Saturday, May 1.

While the Olympic team was selected more than a year ago, the national meet will determine two other USA teams - the second national team, and the junior national team.

The Olympic team also will be there, performing an exhibition of its routine on the final day. Stanford junior Erin Dobratz is an Olympian along with Sara Lowe, who signed a letter-of-intent to attend Stanford in the fall.

Norris was the final cut from the Olympic trials last year.

"There's not much I could have done about it. I had the best swims I could have done in the finals," said Norris. "Personally I couldn't have done anything to change the outcome. I'm happy, though, because I love school and I'm happy to be at Stanford. Yeah, it's disappointing but I still have other opportunities. I'll try out for future national teams, and I am doing a phase of the trials for 2005."

Next week's national meet features the top collegiate teams - Ohio State is the reigning NCAA champion while Stanford finished second at last month's Collegiate Nationals in Ann Arbor, Mich. - and the top 22 club teams in the country, including the Santa Clara Aquamaids and Walnut Creek Aquanuts.

Norris has a simple goal: to beat the best.

"There's a guy soloist, Bill May (who swims for Santa Clara), and I'm out to beat him," she said. "I have to have high hopes. He's good, and fun to watch."

Stanford has also set its sights on Ohio State.

"Collegiate and national have a whole different set of judges," said Norris. "We'll get to see what other judges think of us."

If the past is any indication, judges think highly of the Cardinal. Stanford has finished in the top five nationally in 24 of its 27 years of competition. Since achieving varsity status, Stanford has produced an Olympic gold medalist, two Olympians and dozens of national team members.

Athletically speaking, next week's meet might be the highest concentration of elite athletes together at one time outside the U.S. National Track and Field Championships held at Stanford the past two years. On Saturday, May 1, for example, a combination of the top collegiate and club athletes will compete on the same day as the Olympic exhibition.

Stanford's Olympic gold medal belongs to 1999 Cardinal grad Heather Olson, the current synchronized swimming coach at Stanford. Together with assistant coach Shannon Montague (Stanford '01), they form one of the youngest - yet most successful - coaching tandems in the nation. This is their third year at the helm.

Olson led Stanford to its first ever NCAA title in 1998, two years after winning her Olympic gold medal in Atlanta. She was named U.S. Synchronized Swimmer of the Year in 2000.

"The sport draws people from gymnastics, dance, and speed skating," said Olson. "It's a great combination of swimming, music and dance. You'll see a lot of throws and lifts, when the person is literally thrown out of the water."

Olson started as a speed swimmer in Monterey, but after watching the synchronized swimmers practice, decided to give it a try.

Montague was a four-time Collegiate All-American and was part of two NCAA championship teams. She also owns national titles in team, trio and solo. She was a teammate of Norris and Dobratz in 2001.

"It's good to have a coach/swimmer relationship, but you need to have a type of relationship," said Norris. "Shannon was a senior when I was a freshman. We all respect her as a coach but we can still joke with her."

Norris began her career through the Tallahassee Recreation Department, where her mother, Karen, was asked to begin a synchronized swimming program before Katie was even born.

"I joined when I was 7 because my friends were doing it," said Norris. "I just kept swimming and competing in regular meets until I was 14."

By the time she was 12, Norris was considered one of the top synchronized swimmers in Florida, but she wasn't dreaming of bigger things back then.

"I didn't really know much of the Olympics; all I wanted to do is keep getting better," she said.

That desire to improve helped propel her into elite status.

"She probably has the best flexibility in the country and gives 110 percent of herself to the sport," said Olson. "She's been such a leader and it's great to have her."

So how complicated is the sport? What makes Norris and others superb athletes? It's more than swimming and different from ballet, but you have to train like you're doing both.

"It's like holding your breath and running a marathon," said Norris. "It's only for maybe 10 seconds but you're working like crazy, working hard to maintain your routine, and then you're supposed to come up, smile and be happy. People don't realize how hard it is. You're upside down and you're supposed to make it look easy."

That's what separates a team like Stanford from the rest of the nation. The Cardinal make it look easy year after year only after spending long hours of physical and mental preparation.

"In-season you do a lot of Pilates, a whole body workout for flexibility," said Norris. "Off-season is a lot of cross training - running, lifting weights (not intense, more for toning), swimming."

And then there's the construction of your routine, developed and refined on a daily basis throughout the season.

"You start at the beginning and play around with what goes with the music," said Norris. "It's mostly in the water between me and my coach and its trial and error. You write it each year, starting in the fall when there are no meets. That's when the choreography goes on.

"You look at videos of the world championships and get ideas. It's constantly modified and things are thrown out," she added. "The coach will have a few pieces of music and I decide which best fits my routine. There's usually three pieces of music, both fast-paced and slow-paced. You try to mix and flow."

Next week is the culmination of all that effort.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.