Aquahawk Deidre Rosel, 20, competes in the seventh heat of the 200 freestyle. Saturday was Day Three of the Wave the Wheat Meet at the Indoor Aquatic Center.

Lawrence Aquahawk Maria Mayrovich placed second in the 200-meter freestyle during Saturday’s Wave The Wheat Meet at the Indoor Aquatic Center, but a more important event looms as she will try to qualify for the 2008 Olympics at the Russian National Championships.

“I feel like I can do it,” she said. “I think there’s a good chance.”

Although the 19-year-old Kansas University junior excels in the freestyle, she will tone down her training after this weekend to preserve herself for that Olympics-qualifying event in two weeks.

Mayrovich grew up in Novorossisyk, Russia, but chose to enroll at an American college to gain a better education and improve her swimming.

“I needed more opportunities to grow,” she said. “I feel good about my decision,”

More than 20 colleges recruited her, but Mayrovich chose KU in large part because of her strong relationship with coach Clark Campbell, who wrote her frequently.

“I felt this is a person I need to work with,” she said. “He was so dedicated. He was so nice.”

¢When Eric Sparks was 4 or 5 years old, he almost drowned during a camping trip in Indiana.

“I just remember my head went under,” he said. “And my dad had to come pull me out.”

As a result, his parents placed him in a swimming school shortly thereafter. He went through the class so proficiently that the instructor suggested he take up competitive swimming.

“I tried it out, liked it, and I’ve been at it ever since,” Sparks said.

The 17-year-old Topeka High senior now swims the freestyle, backstroke and 200 individual medley.

“I like to sprint freestyle because you can just go out as fast as you can and race people,” he said. “I love that aspect about it.”

He swam for Topeka during his freshman and sophomore years, but not during his junior year. Sparks broke 50 seconds in the 100 freestyle for the first time as a 10th grader. He also placed ninth in the 200 IM at the state championship that year, rebounding from a subpar preliminary in an event that is not his best.

“That’s one race that always stands out to me,” Sparks said.

The Topeka resident swam exclusively for the Aquahawks as a junior and has commuted to those practices since the age of 11.

“(Mike Soderling)’s a really good coach,” he said. “So it’s worth the drive.”

¢Caitlin Gallagher swims the butterfly and individual medley, but is one of the few Aquahawks to specialize in the breaststroke.

Although freestyle and backstroke require the swimmers to kick their legs and rotate arms in the same way, she relishes the uniqueness of her best event.

“You can kind of train both of those at the same time,” Gallagher said. “(Breaststroke) is just an entirely different way of swimming.”

She won the 200 breaststroke Saturday with a time of 2 minutes, 48.18 seconds.

The 17-year-old Free State High senior likely will swim that stroke at the next level. She is considering several schools, including the University of Connecticut, Villanova University and Brown University.

“I’m really appreciating the fact that swimming is helping me get in to the colleges I want to go to,” she said.

Once Gallagher enrolls, she will continue the sport she has enjoyed since beginning at age seven.

“Everyone at my daycare was doing it,” Gallagher said. “I’ve always really liked to swim.”

¢The Wave The Wheat Meet commences its last day with warm-ups for the 10-and under and 11-to-12 year-old swimmers at 7 a.m. today at the Indoor Aquatic Center.