When freshman Alicia Aemisegger glanced up at the scoreboard during the backstroke to breaststroke transition in the middle of her 400 individual medley at the 2005 World Championship Trials, she was slightly surprised.
"I took a little peek at the scoreboard — something you're not usually supposed to do while you're racing," she said, "And I realized I was in eighth place."
Knowing that "coach Shoulberg would not be happy" if she placed last in finals, Alicia swam to a third-place finish after fast breaststroke and freestyle legs. She just missed qualifying for the World Championships Team by 0.3 seconds and improved her best time by eight seconds.
Who did she place third to?
Katie Hoff, the youngest member of the 2004 Olympic team and the 2005 USA Female Swimmer of the Year, and Kaitlin Sandeno, who took home four medals (a gold, a silver and two bronzes) in Athens.
Aemisegger calls that 400 IM her "breakout swim" on the international scene.
"I first qualified for USA nationals in my freshman year of high school," she said. "And after that I have always been a pretty good national level swimmer. But that meet was the first time I was named to the national team."
The distinction of being named to the national team is reserved for America's elite swimmers.
Aemisegger attributes her rise to the top to a combination of dedication to the sport and hard work. It started when she was eight years old with a promise to her best friend: "I'll swim if you swim."
Aemisegger claims that she wasn't "fast at all" when she was young. That is, until coach Dick Shoulberg found her in a fifth-grade swim class.
"Coach Shoulberg suggested I swim with his team at Germantown Academy," Aemisegger said. "I was like, ok that sounds good."
Little did she know just where it would take her. By the time she reached high school, Aemisegger was training six hours a day six times a week in addition to a three-hour workout on Sundays.
"We didn't get days off," Aemisegger said. "Not even Christmas."
She explained that Shoulberg's coaching philosophy rests on the idea that if "you work hard every day in practice, the race is the easy part." His endurance-based workouts were designed to break down his swimmers on a daily basis.
Aemisegger laughed when describing her love/hate relationship with Shoulberg. "He is like a father to me," she said.
"I've been swimming with him since the fifth grade — he really knows how I work," Aemisegger said. "He was never just focused on making me a better swimmer, but also a better person."
Team atmosphere a draw
Aemisegger's character was one of the reasons that Susan Teeter, head coach of the Princeton women's swim team, knew she "needed to have [Aemisegger] at Princeton."
"When I recruited Alicia, I went to her dual meet versus Peddie and watched how she interacted with her teammates. I saw her cheering for a guy who could barely swim in the end lane and I thought 'that speaks volumes about her,' " Teeter said.
Teeter explained that the swim team is a "family-oriented" group where there are "expectations on a person over and beyond the training to create a teamatmosphere."
Aemisegger attributed her decision to enroll at Princeton to the team's atmosphere, which Teeter has worked to build in her 23 years of coaching.
"I love this team. I love the atmosphere and I love the group feel. I wouldn't give it up for the world," she said.
Academics also played a role in Aemisegger's desire to attend Princeton. She knew she could get "the best possible education" at Princeton and decided she was up for the challenge. She stressed the importance of keeping her life in check — of ensuring that she can balance swimming, school and a social life.
A boon to the league
"I think having Alicia here at Princeton is amazing for the Ivy League in general. Any time an elite national team swimmer steps away from a 'scholarship swimming school' and says to the rest of the world, 'I want my education too,' she becomes the poster child for the words 'student-athlete,' " Teeter said.
Senior co-captain Emma Tapscott agreed, saying that Aemisegger's decision to turn down scholarship offers from swim powerhouses like USC shows "how intent she was on being a part of the Princeton community."
At the same time, moving to Princeton has been an adjustment, just as it is for any freshman. Aemisegger says that at first she felt "all flipped upside-down," as she adjusted to a new training regimen and lifestyle.
She claimed she has now found "the perfect balance" of endurance and technique training. In the pool, she has lead the Tigers to a 2-0 Ivy start, with record-setting performances in the 400 IM, 200-meter butterfly and 1000 freestyle.
"Alicia is impressive to all of us," Tapscott says. "She is willing to put in the extra work to reach her goals at Princeton, in swimming and beyond."
Aemisegger continues to train seven days a week, returning home to Germantown Academy on the weekends to train under Shoulberg, as she works toward her goal of qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Team.
"I know I may not qualify," she said. "But I'm trying to do the best I can — to try my hardest and go as far as my swimming will take me."
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