By Tom Murphy Jr.

Senior Reporter

Photo Credit: Bob Konska/The Oakland Post

Every time Oakland University swimmer Agnes Solan looks up at the record board posted on the wall of the Grizzlies pool, she sees her name.

She holds the school record for the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 54.65 seconds and the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 58.95 seconds, both reached at the Summit League Championships.

It is a constant reminder that she was successful last season, reaching accolades including winning the Newcomer of the Year Award. However, according to Solan, she wasn’t successful enough.

She made the “B” cut as a qualifier for the NCAA championships but she was named an alternate, as her time was not fast enough to compete.

This season her focus is making the “A” cut and leaving no doubt about swimming in the championships.

“It’s cool because I get to look at it everyday,” Solan said about her displayed achievements. “It makes me want to work hard so I can get those records so fast that no one can ever [break them].”

So far this season, Solan, a redshirt junior and integrative studies major at OU, is well on her way to making that lofty goal a reality.

“I have been happy with my times so far,” Solan said. “Compared to last year I think I have dropped a few hundredths of a second, which is actually a lot.”

But making the cut won’t be easy. The new “A” cut mark is set at an extremely fast time of 53:01 for the 100-yard backstroke and 1:53.37 for the 200-yard backstroke.

Her current high marks are 54.65 and 158.95 in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke respectively.

“The NCAA cuts for this year are crazy fast,” Solan said. “So I am working hard to make the cut.”

A swimmer can make the cut at any time during the season but OU head coach Pete Hovland said that there is a method to attempting to make the cut.

He said that, since training is so tough throughout the season, there are specific times the swimmers have to produce their best marks. It involves training very hard early on and then tapering the training to a lower level at different points of the season.

Hovland said that his goal is to have the swimmer reach peak performance levels before specific meets so the swimmer can rejuvenate their bodies in the hopes of producing the highest possible marks.

The tapering process has begun for Solan, who will try to make the NCAA “A” cut at the Miami University Invitational Dec. 4-6.

“I am really excited for Miami,” Solan said. “The plan is to make the cut in Miami then train really hard until NCAAs.”

Solan said that she would taper again before the NCAA championships in late March in order to give her maximum effort.

Until then, Solan is content to dominate the pool. She tallied top finishes in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke with times of 56.47 and 2:04.89, respectively Saturday in a dual-meet victory over Akron.

She led off the 200-yard medley relay team with a season-best split time of 26.12 in the 50 back with freshman Johanna Gustafsson, junior Sarah Ludema and freshman Alyssa Vela. The four of them posted a season-best time of 1:46.81 to finish first.

Hovland said that last season was bittersweet for Solan in that she had a great meet at the Summit League championships but just barely missed the cut for the NCAA championships. This season he hopes it will be different.

“She wants to excel at the highest level possible,” Hovland said. “She will do anything you ask of her to get there. [Not making the cut] last season may be a blessing in disguise.”

“Maybe it’s the motivating factor this year. She’s been working extremely hard to this point and she’s showing signs that she is ahead of pace,” he said.