The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas Invite spotlight: Hee-Jin Chang
11.29.2007 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Never mind that she represented her native Korea at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia at the age of 14. Forget about the experience of anchoring relays to All-America finishes at the NCAA Championship. Nerves still get to UT junior Hee-Jin Chang, but on Thursday morning at the Texas Invitational, those jitters worked to her advantage.
Chang clocked a lifetime-best mark of 22.62 in the 50-yard freestyle preliminary round to land the second seed in the day one finals. The time matched the NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the event and landed Chang a berth to compete in the event at the 2008 NCAA Championship.
"I always get more nervous for that event than any other," Chang said. "You make one mistake and you can toss that race out of the window. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that time. I think it was an 'on' day for me today."
The quick time may have been a surprise to Chang, but it was no surprise to her coach.
"Hee-Jin is coming into her own and taking confidence in her aerobic background," said second-year UT coach Kim Brackin. "She has been able to swim more aggressively, but what is so exciting is that Hee-Jin's races weren't perfect; she can still come back and make adjustments tonight."
Chang had already made her mark earlier in the preliminary round when she clocked 54.16 in the 100 butterfly to land a NCAA provisional-qualifying berth.
"I've been training a lot more in that event, and I went in pretty confident and just swam as fast as I could. I knew I had to come back strong for the 50 (freestyle), and I was excited to swim it. It was a 'good nervous'."
Chang will attempt to harness those nerves once more this evening when she competes in the 50 freestyle final and the 100 butterfly consolation final.
"Tonight, I just want to go faster than I went this morning, but I tend to get more nervous for evening swims," Chang said. "It's just a mental game for me at night. I just need to be more confident than this morning."