Lawrence Aquahawks swimmer Ashley Robinson's compact frame serves as a pretty good shield in protecting her from the attention she's rightfully deserved.
The 14-year old was quick to deflect praise directed at her to the rest of her teammates Sunday at the Midwestern All Star Invitational at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center.
Ashley Robinson of Lawrence competes in the 200 butterfly. Robinson won the 13-14 age division race Sunday at Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center.
"It's so much fun," Robinson said about swimming with fellow Aquahawks and other Missouri Valley team members in the invitation-only meet. "I love meeting people and being able to travel because of swimming."
It's not that Robinson doesn't have reason to talk about herself. She's probably this area's best swimmer in her age group, according to coach Matt Barnes and is also recognized nationally.
But she's soft-spoken about her accomplishments.
That is until it comes to the pool.
Then Robinson, an eighth-grader at West Junior High, is like a shark devouring the competition.
Ashley Robinson of the lawrence aquahawks stretches on the starting block while watching a heat race.
Her favorite events are distance races and she was talented enough to qualify for the U.S. Open last winter in New York.
However, Robinson said she was a nervous at the meet and didn't do as well as she'd hoped. Nonetheless it was Robinson's biggest meet yet, and she said the experience gained was valuable.
"I was a little nervous," Robinson said with a shy smile. "There were so many people there."
Robinson was a little more at home this weekend when she won the 100 and 200-yard butterfly and finished strong in several other races.
Still she said she likes endurance races better than sprints and would someday love to go to the Olympics.
"That's a dream of mine," Robinson said. "But I don't like to think of it too much, because it makes me nervous about the cuts."
Barnes said Robinson's ceiling in the sport is limitless.
"There's no way to predict that kind of thing," Barnes said. "It really depends what she wants out of this."
Considering Robinson works out diligently, waking before 5 a.m. three times a week and going back to the pool in the afternoon for another 21/2 hours shows her goals are lofty.
Robinson wasn't the only successful Aquahawk this weekend. Ashley Jackson, Katie Swank and Anthony Portela also had solid meets.
It was Swank, 12, who was the top individual swimmer in the 11-12-year-old age group.
"It makes me really proud of all our kids accomplishments," Barnes said his team's success in the meet that featured more than 400 entrants. "This isn't a guaranteed thing, these kids earned their way here and swam well with the top swimmers in the area."
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