Tara Joyce Breaks Wyoming State Swim Record

“So I was just focusing the entire time on just keeping that good pace, making sure I got the most out of all of my strokes. I was trying to listen to the lap counter as much as I could. So when I saw that board going I would just basically try to kick as hard as I could. Then I come in and I reach for the wall and I just hear my team going crazy. The Buffalo coach actually came over to me and he was like ‘you just broke the record.’ I didn’t know what to say, honestly.”

That was Cody Filly Swimmer Tara Joyce on the moment when she set a new Wyoming State Swim Record. On Monday it was officially announced Tara set a new Wyoming 3A State Record in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:17.10. That record tops the mark set by Buffalo Swimmer Katie Peck in 1998. Following the weekend’s action I was able to catch up with Tara and her coach Emily Swett to talk to them about the record and more. Tara says it’s super exciting to set a state record and took me through her focus during the record breaking race.

“Honestly, I thought I was going slower. I just really was… The thing is, the more I focus on technique, it feels slower but it adds up to being faster. It’s just being more efficient. So that I think was my hardest thing was I had to trust myself knowing that, focusing on technique is what was going to get me this record.”

Tara, who is originally from California, is in her first year as a Filly swimmer and has had an exceptional season. Tara goes on to talk about how this season has gone for the team.

“I mean honestly it’s an incredible season. Everyone seems to be dropping so much time at our meets. We’re like over halfway through the season, well over it and everyone’s still dropping crazy amounts of time on their events. So we have, I think just like the energy on the team, honestly, is just crazy.”

And with just two meets left in the regular season Tara talks about the keys for Filly Swim going forward.

“It’s just those flip turns and that technique. Honestly it’s going to also be staying strong cause I know a lot of us are getting tired because we are reaching the end of the season now. So everyone’s like ‘why are we doing this, I don’t feel as good now, this doesn’t seem to be working anymore.’ It’s honestly just, you’re going to have to keep pushing, you’re going to have to keep working on that technique.”

After talking with Tara I caught up with Head coach of Filly Swim Emily Swett, who echoes Tara’s excitement about a new State Record being set and takes us through the preparation behind the race.

“It’s something that we’ve had our eye on from the beginning of the season but obviously you just never know what’s going to happen and you hope that things will work out, trust that they will but when it actually all comes together and it happens, it’s just super exciting. So we had a duel meet in Worland on Thursday and then she set the record on Friday in Buffalo and Thursday we really just kind of set a little bit of a different strategy. That strategy was really more focusing on technique and it worked really well, she won a season best time. Turned around Friday, she swam it again. We talked about the same thing. So really just staying with that technique but then kind of kicking in a little extra drive, kind of in that last 200 of the 500’s. It was really cool. It was pretty exciting.”

With just one weekend left in the regular season Coach Swett points to the mental aspect as most crucial for this team going forward. This Filly team is primed to set more records but they must stay focused and be mentally prepared for whatever may be thrown their way.

“I think a lot of it is staying positive. You know when they start to see those results kind of not be quite where they were at the very beginning of the season I know some of them get discouraged and so I think it’s really just trusting in the process, knowing that when we get to the end it’s all going to come together and it is already coming together. When those times maybe aren’t quite what they were at the beginning I ask two questions: I said, did you give it your all and do you race? If the answers are yes, I’m a happy coach.”

You can catch the Cody Filly Swim team back in action tomorrow and Friday for their final regular season competition. Tomorrow the Filly Swimmers are in Powell for a 4pm meet. Friday they travel to Green River for a 3pm meet. Stay tuned later today for full one-on-one interviews with Tara and Coach Swett.