Sophomore Grace Swoboda has recently been dubbed the queen of the 100-yard breaststroke, cementing her name as a legend in the Iowa State swim and dive record books.
Swoboda broke the record for the 100-yard breaststroke on Jan. 31 in a dual meet against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Swoboda swam the four lengths in a staggering 1:00.45 and was able to secure the victory for her team.
The Big 12 also named Swoboda the swimmer of the week, a prestigious honor to receive that is competitive and given out weekly to only one swimmer out of 16 high-level teams in the Big 12 Conference.
The big question will look at how Swoboda was able to complete such a task and if she will be able to continue this level of success throughout her career as a Cyclone?
So far, the answer is a resounding yes. Swoboda has shown steady improvement from her freshman year to now. As a freshman, Swoboda swam her first 100-yard breaststroke in 1:06.19 in a dual meet against South Dakota State in 2024. This means Swoboda has improved by almost six seconds since first leaping into Beyer pool.
Swoboda continued her success by later breaking the freshman school record for the 100-yard breaststroke, swimming a time of 1:01.02 and putting her second in the school record for the event.
It ended up only being a matter of time of constant training, watching film and learning from upperclassmen and other teammates to end up becoming the record holder.
Swoboda spoke on how a mindset change has been huge for her in being able to break the record and go into meets with the right mindset.
“I think last year I was really stressed, I had a lot of pressure on myself, for whatever reason,” Swoboda said. “This year coming into it, I have been a lot more calm.”
The proper mindset as an athlete is crucial, as not being in the right state of mind can cause an athlete to take themselves out of a competition without even dipping a toe in the water.
Along with the right mindset, it requires lots of training, working on strokes, countless hours of film, recovery and preparation of the body before practice and being coachable are all prerequisites to even graze greatness in the face of collegiate swimming.
Swoboda has put in the time and effort in and her success can be credited to those who have been around her.
“We all really push each other,” Swoboda said. “Matt [Leach] has also helped me a lot through this process.”
Breaking records for races is also found in the areas that some swimmers are not seeing. Film is a great way to reveal missing pieces that can perfect a stroke.
“We will go back over our film and check and look at things we didn’t notice before,” Swoboda said. “I’ll look at Anja’s [Peck] stroke, and I’ll look at my stroke.”
