Santa Clara Ro-lympian?

By Aaron Juarez

Getting up before sunrise is tough. Voluntarily getting up before sunrise is borderline impossible. There has to be a good reason for most people to wake up to darkness. There must be a goal.

Sophomore Roshan "Ro" Mehdizadeh does not wait for sunrise. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning begins at 5 a.m. Under the shade of night she makes the drive from her Los Gatos home to the pool deck at De Anza College in Cupertino.

By 5:30 she's in the water. From there her day becomes a whirlwind of morning training, classes, afternoon training, labs, homework, and finally a few hours of sleep before the whole drill begins again.

With a 17-unit course load in the School of Engineering, two labs, 20 hours of swim training a week, and her recent case of pneumonia (which kept her out of training last week), doesn't it ever cross Mehdizadeh's mind to put swimming on hold and just take a break?

"Definitely," she said, "but times like this, when I'm sick and out of the water for a week, I miss it. I'm born to swim, basically. Being out of the water for even a couple days kills me, and that's when I know I'm doing the right thing."

Which begs the question of why she chose to come to Santa Clara over schools such as Rice University (which recruited her) that have Division I swimming programs.

"It's just a better fit for me personally," said Mehdizedah. "I enjoy training at De Anza, I just love the program. I love the coaching; it's just the best. It's a good balance between getting a good education and training where I like, and living by people I love."

Mehdizadeh needs to swim. It's a part of her. She has swum competitively since the age of 12, first for Santa Clara Swim Club before joining her current team, De Anza Cupertino Aquatics (DACA) in her junior year of high school. Racing and the thrill of competition drive her love for swimming and Mehdizadeh cannot simply stop swimming now that she has come to such a pivotal moment in her career.

From July 7-14, 2004, the soon-to-be-completed Long Beach Swim Stadium in Long Beach, CA will host the United States Olympic Swimming Trials. Mehdizadeh intends to be there, attempting to qualify for the Olympics in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle.

Qualifying for the Olympics is a two-step process. Swimmers must first meet a required time in each of their events in order to be invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials. Once at the trials, swimmers then compete against one another in their respective events for two Olympic team spots in each event.

Only Mehdizadeh's official times at meets during the summer swim season can qualify for the trial, and she must meet the required time in an event at least one month prior to the trials. Though it is more than a full calendar year until then, in reality Mehdizadeh has only a span of about 5 months to lower her times in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle to 26.39 seconds and 57.19 seconds respectively. In events ruled by former Stanford star Jenny Thompson and current Cal star Natalie Coughlin at the national level, Mehdizadeh faces quite a challenge.

"Ro is essentially in the top five to 10 percent of anybody who swims," said Pete Raykovich, DACA head coach for the past 10 years. "She would need to improve probably a couple of seconds in the 100 and a second or more in the 50 to be right there in the top ten."

"She's definitely got the potential," added DACA assistant coach Sage Hopkins. "She's right there, it's just a matter of the swim coming together. She's done a lot of great work over the past three years and really improved quite a bit."

In her time with DACA, Mehdizadeh's improvement has been drastic.

"[Roshan's] time improvements have been dramatic," said Raykovich, "When she came here, I think she was looking to dedicate herself a little more to swimming, and her improvement is the result of hard work, talent, and her drive to get better."

Raykovich also notes the benefits of Mehdizadeh's decision to attend Santa Clara and stay on with DACA. Her leadership abilities and fortitude to keep pushing herself has left a positive impression on her coach and younger teammates.

"This club has always been led by the older, more experienced kids setting an example for the new kids coming into the group," Raykovich said. "It was a particular bonus for us to have Ro decide that Santa Clara [University] is where she wanted to go," he said. "She just loved the school and for a lot of other reasons loves her club and she is just extremely team-oriented. Ro's example has saved us a lot of coaching energy in that department."

"She's a great leader, helping the other swimmers out here get better and really leading by example," noted Hopkins. "She's done a great job of making the younger swimmers feel welcome and helping them feel like a part of the group."

DACA teammate Abra Armour, a senior at Homestead High School, has benefited from Mehdizedah's work ethic and experience.

"We both swim the same events, so it pushes me to try and keep up with her," Armour said. "We're both good competition [for each other] so it helps us in training and makes it better when you have someone next to you, cheering you on."

It's almost 3:30 in the afternoon now, time for practice. The lanes have been set up in the pool, and the medicine balls sit on the pool deck ready to do their part in the grueling workout. For Mehdizadeh it is just another step on the path, as she seems to be looking forward to the intense training.

Then again, they always say that if it comes easy, it ain't worth a lick.