Watching Elizabeth Beisel fiercely take down the competition as she swims to first place in the 200-yard backstroke against Tennessee, it’s hard to imagine her as a funny, sweet 18-year-old who loves to joke around with her teammates on the Florida swimming and diving team.
But that’s what makes Beisel special. One minute, she seems to be flying across the pool; the next, she is just another college freshman having fun with her friends.
Coach Gregg Troy said Beisel brings a lot of experience to the team, but what’s more important is her attitude.
“She‘s very light, lots of fun, lot of smiles, lot of giggles,” he said. “[She] kind of cements the team together.”
Beisel, a Rhode Island native, has plenty of reasons to smile.
At 13, she was on the U.S. national team as one of the nation’s top 40 swimmers. At 15, she placed fourth in the 200-meter individual medley and fifth in the 200-meter backstroke as the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing.
At 16, she won the bronze medal in the 200 back at the FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation, or International Swimming Federation) World Championships in Rome. Last year at the Pan Pacific Championships, she took home two gold medals in the 400 IM and the 200 back.
Beisel said the Pan Pac is her favorite swimming memory to date.
“I had always been sort of second or third behind people, and for me to finally go to the top for once was really cool,” she said. “It was a great setup for coming into this year, too.”
This year has brought her collegiate success in and out of the pool. She has earned a 3.7 GPA in addition to swimming top times, earning NCAA qualification in the 200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 200 back, 200 fly and the 200 and 400 IM. Beisel also helped her relay teams qualify in the 200 freestyle and 400 medley.
Beisel has earned the Southeastern Conference Female Swimmer of the Week honor four times, the most by a freshman in SEC history. She also won her third straight Rhode Island Female Athlete of the Year award on Jan. 31.
“It means so much to me that Rhode Island has been behind me the entire time,” she said. “It’s cool to see that they’re still following not only me, but swimming as well.”
Beisel was recently named to the 2011 FINA World Championship team along with teammates Conor Dwyer and Teresa Crippen. They will travel to Shanghai with Troy, who is an assistant coach for the team, in summer 2011.
She hopes to make the 2012 Olympic team and find success in London, but she will first look to help her team succeed at the SEC Championships, hosted by Florida later this month. She will also reach for personal success at the NCAA Championships in March.
In the meantime, Beisel is just doing what she does best: training hard, striving for success and always having a good time.
“I’m just trying to enjoy it now, taking in the whole college experience,” she said. “It’s all really new to me. It’s all sort of a cool experience.”
