Senior butterfly and freestyle swimmer Ellen Lobb will swim in her home pool for the final time at the Big 12 Championships this weekend.
As a veteran, she has learned to deal with the pressure and is trying to instill the same confidence in the team’s younger athletes.
“Leave the meet with no regrets,” Lobb said, reiterating her message to the freshman swimmers. “Leave it all in the pool. Swimming is a tough sport, so just have fun with it. Have a smile and live in the moment.”
Lobb is looking to cap off her four-year career with another worthy performance this weekend. A three-time Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipient and four-time All-American, Lobb is as impressive in the pool and she is out of it.
With this week’s Big 12 competition falling a week after last week’s SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, Lobb is looking to do more than just win the conference meet. The SEC is home to three of the top 10 teams in the nation — Georgia, Texas A&M and Florida. Knowing the times of some of the top swimmers in the country has given the Longhorns some added motivation.
“Seeing those results will give our girls a high standard to work towards,” Lobb said. “We can use those times for extra motivation to work harder during this week leading up to our races.”
While the team continues to train hard, Lobb is relaxed heading into the tournament. She’s enjoying every last minute with her teammates, knowing full well that this will be her final opportunity to swim in front of the Austin crowd.
“All those little things I was telling myself that I should do freshman, sophomore and junior year, now I’m like, ‘Ellen this is your senior year, you have to do it now,’” Lobb said.
And so far in the Big 12 Championships’ first night, she is doing just that, helping Texas ‘A’ win the 200 medley relay in 1:37.16, good for the third fastest time in program history.
In addition to claiming a first of her own, she watched as her teammates took first in the 800 freestyle relay in 7:01.97. Texas leads the Big 12 Championships after one day with 80 points, as Kansas sits in second with 66.
The Big 12 Championships will continue Thursday with the one-meter diving finals. The finals for 50 and 500 events, and the 200 and 400 individual medley relays begin at 5 p.m. at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
