Duarte wants more
Jan. 23, 2009 - Regina Leader-Post
By Tim Switzer
Linda Duarte doesn't just want to touch the wall during the Canada West swimming champions this weekend. She wants to break through it.
For most of her four-year career with the University of Regina, Duarte's name is one of the first mentioned when Cougars swimming is discussed. Through the previous three seasons, the O'Neill High School graduate has made several finals at the Canada West meet and has reached the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships each season.
But when it comes to finishes, Duarte has plenty of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place showings to her credit, but no medals.
"Being that close it does dawn on you," said Duarte. "If you look at the times of what did get third and think, 'My best time is faster than that,' that does get frustrating. I'm pretty competitive with myself so I try to keep it at that and not watch everyone else.
"I try not to put that pressure on myself. Obviously it would be nice, but you never know what point everyone is at during these meets."
Duarte will be joined at the championships -- to be held in Victoria today through Sunday -- by Maggi Pettit, Mya Demchuk and Andrew Malawski, a bronze medallist in the 50-metre breaststroke at last season's meet.
This year could be Duarte's best chance to medal so far. She enters the championships ranked fourth in the 200m butterfly (with a qualifying time of two minutes 21.59 seconds) and seventh in the 100m butterfly (1:04.00).
"She's going up against swimmers like MacKenzie Downing (Victoria Vikes), Rachelle Salli (UBC Thunderbirds) and Seanna Mitchell (Calgary Dinos) -- some big swimmers and she's right there," said Cougars head coach Jeff Toth.
"This would be a meet where she could change that (and earn a medal). That would be tremendous confidence boost. She's one of those swimmers that's always there and if she hangs on long enough, she's going to break through. It's just a matter of time."