Olympic Trials 'Experience of a Lifetime' for Chatham Swimmer

When Chatham native in Omaha, Neb., she had one thing she wanted to do.

"I took a week off from swimming," Leberfinger said, and instead spent a few days "happily" enjoying a break from the pool.

A week off, however, was all she would let herself take. "Whatever the amount of time you take off, you need to take double that to get back in shape again," Leberfinger said. "I need to get in shape for college, and I don't want to get too far behind."

After a year at , Leberfinger will transfer to Rutgers University.

"I wanted a larger program, and closer to home," she said. "The team is really welcoming, and the coach is great."

As she starts training for her next swimming season, Leberfinger will start with two days of weight training and four days a week of . She also took a job as the assistant swim coach at Minisink Pool. "I don’t want to pick up too much because I’m working too and I want to have some fun," she said.

"Fun" does not begin to describe Leberfinger's experience at Omaha. She competed in her signature event, the 100-meter LC breastroke, in the preliminary race for the Olympic women's swim team. She finished with a time of 1:14.73, tied for 147th place, according to results on the USA Swimming website.

The time was not enough to get Leberfinger a spot on the Olympic team.

"Only the first one or two in each event make the team, so the chances are, like, 0.5 percent that someone makes it," she said.

The first-place winner in the preliminaries was Rebecca Soni, who finished with a time of 1:06.33. Soni also holds the Olympic trial record time, set earlier this year, of 1:05.82

"Omaha was amazing, it was so amazing. It was the experience of a lifetime, to be in a pool with all those world-class athletes," Leberfinger said. "I wasn’t really focused on making [the team]. I just focused on doing my best, taking everything in. I just wanted to enjoy the experience. ... It kept me motivated, and now it makes me want to go back in four years."

Though Leberfinger won't be among the athletes traveling to London later this month, she is already thinking ahead to 2016. "I need to train, focus. The biggest thing is train, though," she said.

"Being at trials made me realize that yeah, I do work hard, but I don't do a third of what these Olympic athletes do. You have to be focused and love every second of it, and you have to believe."

In the slightly more immediate future, Leberfinger said she will watch the swim team closely as they compete in London. "Swimming and gymnastics are my favorite," she said. "The US just breeds good swimmers and talented people, ... [and] the team is going to be awesome. All of them were great at trials. ... It was a great group of people, and they'll go far."

As a swimmer herself, Leberfinger has a particular admiration for the athletes who made it onto the Olympic team. Usually swimmers get to rest between big meets, she said, but the Olympics ask more of athletes.

"A month [after trials] they have to get up again and do even better, and against the rest of the world. And not only in one event. Some have double events, and I don't know how they do it. For them to get up and do double events at trials and get up again in a month and do double events, and not do the same but even better? It's just incredible."