Warrior World extra: Erin McNulty
McNulty, the subject of this week’s Star-Advertiser Warrior World feature, made the Olympic trials cut in the 100-meter butterfly at the Hawaii Swimming Senior Championships in November and UH assistant coach Jennifer Buffin said a few more swimmers could make a run at the qualifying marks in their events.
Freshman Tahna Lindquist swam the 100 backstroke in 1:05.27 and would need to get under 1:03.39 to qualify. Micah Ornellas, a freshman on the men’s team, swam the 100 butterfly in 55.62 and needs to get down to 54.79. Buffin added sophomore Kira Webster could make a push in the distance events. UH sent six swimmers, five from the men’s team, to the U.S. Olympic trials in 2012.
McNulty overcame three ankle surgeries in her UH career and continues training for UH’s short-course season in the spring with a goal of qualifying for the NCAA championships as well as the Olympic trials in late June. Jasmine Alkhaldi, who swam for the Philippines in the 2012 Games in London and completed her UH eligibility last spring, is also training with the team while completing her degree work and Buffin noted the influence of having swimmers aiming for goals beyond college on the rest of the team.
“I think that makes a difference,” Buffin said, “when you have people in your program who have that goal and have that mind-set of it’s not just about the four or five months of the college season. It’s about the entire year and that four-year program of making the Olympics trials.”
The spring season for the UH swimming and diving teams opens early in 2016 with the Hawaii Diving Invitational Jan. 7-8 at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex. The swimming teams will host Minnesota on Jan. 9 and Fairfield on Jan. 12.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships are set for Feb. 17-20, where the Rainbow Wahine will look to defend the team title.
“(The championship) was something special definitely and I think it got all of us really excited to come back,” McNulty said. “It’s a goal. We want to come back and follow it up and do it again. I think it got everyone really motivated this year as well.”
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