Durango’s Haley Benjamin turned in one of the best performances of her career on one of the biggest stages in swimming.
At the 2017 Speedo Junior National Championships last week in East Meadow, New York, Benjamin set personal records in each of her four events and cracked the top 10 in the 800-meter freestyle.
In the 800, her first event of the meet, the Durango Swim Club star shaved 12 seconds off her previous best time, finishing in 8 minutes, 48.70 seconds, which was within two seconds of the Colorado state record.
“The first day I had 8:48 in the back of my mind, but the realistic number was around 8:51 for the 800 freestyle,” DSC coach Alex Martinek said in an email to The Durango Herald. “So, when she went 8:48, I was stoked. There isn’t a better way to start out a big meet than to have a huge drop and set the tone for the rest of the meet.”
Benjamin followed up the 800 by placing 13th in the 400 and 1,500 freestyles, then finished 31st in the 400 individual medley.
“I was really happy with how the meet went. I knew that I was ready for it, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do well there,” Benjamin said in the email. “The overall experience was really fun and exciting.”
At such a large event – close to 800 swimmers were there – college coaches are on the lookout for potential recruits. Martinek said he thought Benjamin, who will take official visits to Arizona, Hawaii, Houston, Oregon State and Utah, handled the added pressure as well as possible.
“It really has a lot of stakes and pressure in it,” Martinek said. “There might be more college coaches in the stands than spectators. That in itself can make young athletes cave to some pressure and not be able to perform. She stepped up and handled it well.”
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
