Felicia Anderson's Path to The Olympic Trials

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Over the last week Felicia Anderson competed in three events at the national level, qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100 back with a personal best 1:02.60, and finished her fall term final exams as an undergrad in Marketing.

Anderson, as well as Arianna Letrari and Cali Rowland, traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina for USA Winter Nationals November 28^th through December 3^rd. Anderson competed in the finals of the 100 and 200 back after qualifying performances in the prelims. When she took to the pool for the finals of the 100 back, she was racing for the Olympic Trial Qualifying time.

"I was only three tenths of a second short in my prelim race," Anderson said. "I couldn't wait for another shot at it."

After she finished the race, she was almost a tenth of a second under the qualifying time and had punched her ticket for the Olympic Trials.

"(The times) are right in front of you on a huge board. It's kind of impossible not to look at it the second you're done with the race," Anderson said. "I normally try not to look at the board immediately. It can throw the finish of your race off if you're thinking about looking at the board as soon as you're done to see if you won."

After a second, she laughed and added. "But yeah it was hard to resist not looking."

But the process didn't start at Winter Nationals, Anderson qualified for the event with her time at the Summer Nationals in the summer of 2018.

"Oh man. It was a long process," Anderson said. "I guess you can say it started last summer. Four of us stayed over the summer to train with the goal of going and competing at Summer Nationals. It's amazing to have it finally pay off. You see yourself shaving time off by tenths of a second and just knowing you can get it faster the next time. I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to continue to train and improve."

Although she said having the qualification was a definite comfort, Anderson's goals leading up to the summer of 2020 aren't complete yet. Anderson's personal best time of 2:15.25 in the 200 back at Winter Nationals earned her a spot in the 2019 Summer Nationals. The Olympic Trial cut for the 200 back is less than a second away at 2:14.69, and Felicia has her eyes on another qualification.

"Oh my gosh huge relief," Anderson added. "It was so great to get it at the first meet after the qualifying times came out. I get to know that I have it and take some of that pressure off my shoulders. But now I'm chasing that 200 time."

After the meet Beaver head coach Jennifer Buffin was very happy with Anderson's performance, even more so knowing the process of how it all came together.

"Over the last two years Felicia has had success but not without setbacks, not every race was perfect not every goal accomplished however she maintained the mindset that if she showed up every day and gave 100% of what she had it would pay off," Buffin said. "Achieving this is only part of her goals for what she wants to achieve in swimming, helping this program get better has been at the forefront to have two of her teammates there with her and 18 others cheering her on was what she wanted more than a time."

Anderson will keep chipping away at the 200 time over the second half of the Beavers season, but she's looking forward to getting back to winter training and preparing for the Pac-12 championships with her team in March.

"I have my goals for the rest of my swimming career laid out and qualifying for an Olympic Trial in the 200 is definitely on there," Anderson said. "But as far as day to day I like to focus on the short term and what I can do right now, which means I'm focused on this week in the pool and what I can do to be the best at the next meet. Right now, it's getting better every week leading in to Pac-12's to help us compete."

For more information on the Oregon State swimming team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the club @BeaverSwim on Twitter

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Players Mentioned

Felicia Anderson

Arianna Letrari

Cali Rowland

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