Lighthearted Oesting leads women swimmers
After an up and down collegiate career, senior is back in top
form
By Ross Bersot
Waking up early enough to remind the rooster to crow on her way
to morning practice is normal for Megan Oesting. Her reward for
rising before the sun and making it to the pool on time is getting
to swim thousands of yards in water that makes the Arctic Ocean
seem like a jacuzzi. After thawing out, she must attend class like
a normal UCLA senior until the time comes for afternoon practice,
where she will swim some more and visit the gym for weightlifting
and aerobics.
Oesting does more work in a single day than Congress does in an
entire session. She thrives in an environment in which most people
would collapse by making fun her first priority.
"I think if you enjoy working hard, being with your friends,
pushing yourself and competing, you’re going to do great because
you’re having fun," Oesting said.
Oesting hasn’t always been so happy-go-lucky. Before coming to
college, she focused solely on swimming and her achievements within
the sport, neglecting the other facets of her life in order to meet
her extremely high personal goals.
"In high school, you could eat, sleep and breathe swimming,"
Oesting said. "That is all you had to concentrate on. Everything
was so easy. You had all this time and energy to focus on your
sport."
Her one-track mind allowed her astounding achievements in the
pool as she raced to Washington state records in the 50, 100 and
200-yard freestyle and the 200 free relay and gained eight
individual state championships. She kept up the pace after
graduating from Mercer Island High School, earning a gold medal in
the 400 free relay and a silver in the 100 free at the 1991 Pan
American Games in Cuba.
Swimming in top form, Oesting began her career at UCLA in 1991.
She cruised through her first collegiate season, competing in the
50, 100 and 200 free at the NCAA Championships and earning
All-American status as part of the Bruins’ eighth-place 800 free
relay team.
At the end of the season, the college lifestyle caught up with
the freshman and she began to falter. High, though normally
attainable, standards gradually slipped out of reach and, for the
first time in her career, Oesting began to doubt herself.
"I was just a normal freshman with different teammates, in a
different program. We did a lot of different things and I just had
a hard time getting used to it. That seed of doubt was planted and
once you start doubting yourself it’s over," Oesting said. "At the
end of my freshman year I started going downhill. You set goals
that you think are reasonable and maybe you set one that is too
high and you go lower than that and you start thinking, ‘What is
wrong with me, what am I doing?’"
Oesting spent her sophomore and junior years trying to get away
from swimming as the driving force behind her life. The
difficulties involved in letting go of the sport that dominated her
life for 10 years caused her times to rise and her performance to
fall.
"College is the weaning process of something that was so
important for eight or 10 years to something that is just another
part of life," said Oesting. "My priorities changed. Once you get
to college, school is a little harder and it means more, so you
work more on that. You’re learning about yourself in terms of
friendships and relationships and teammates. Swimming isn’t
everything. Swimming is a great part of having a great time in
college. Things are more well-rounded. You don’t base your whole
life on how you swim at the end of the season, you base it on how
you’re doing during the season with your friends and with
school."
Though she could regret not performing at the elite level she
once approached, Oesting is thankful that she concentrated on life
outside of the pool, so that after her final meet in March, life
without swimming won’t be as hard to cope with.
"I think that I might be fortunate to not have had as much
success as I would have liked earlier in collegiate swimming,"
Oesting said. "If I had success I probably would have stayed
awfully focused, which would have been narrow-minded. I might not
have grown up the way I have. I think I’ve learned a lot through
swimming in college, in terms of the other things out there that
are just as important."
Now in the midst of her final year on the team, Oesting’s times
are approaching those of earlier years. She intends to contribute
not only through her races, but by keeping things lighthearted and
providing positive reinforcement for the freshmen swimmers. Not
only will this help the team in its drive to the NCAAs, it will
also provide a positive end to her career.
"My main goal this year is to have fun through my relationships
with my teammates and my coaches. I want to help the freshmen get
off on the right foot," Oesting said."I’ve got to try and make this
fun, because I’m not going to have it in a year."