March 6, 2002

by Erika Rowell

Contrary to the popular T-shirt slogan, swimming is not life for Illini senior swimmer, Jessica Aveyard.

"I do this for the fun of it," said Aveyard. "The minute it becomes not fun, I'll stop."

So far, the sport has been fun for the senior from New Jersey. One of her earlier swimming memories is being in a pool at the YMCA with her mother and thinking the water was really deep.

"It (the water) came up to my mom's knees," said Aveyard with a laugh.

Her swimming career began with the influence of her father and sisters. Aveyard's father is from Australia and she said he encouraged his daughters to swim because "everyone in Australia knows how to swim". Her two older sisters were in the water before she was, but since her mom was driving two kids to swim practice, young Jessica said she figured she might as well take all three of them.

Today, Aveyard has come a long way from the YMCA pool. Her competitive swimming days began during her freshman year of high school, and four years later, she was recruited and offered a scholarship to swim at Illinois. Since joining the team, she has left her mark in a number of ways. Aveyard, whose best event is the 200-yard backstroke, ranks among Illinois' top 10 all-time performers in six events. She is the first Illini to have made a world championship team. In addition, she placed 13th in the 2000 Olympic trials.

"Jessica is a great competitor--she rises to the occasion" said Head Coach Sue Novitsky. "After her first semester here, she made a decision. She wanted to be good and has done everything I asked and more to become better."

Novitsky said Aveyard came in as a junior national level swimmer and has developed into a US national swimmer, an improvement she calls a tremendous accomplishment.

It was her US national swimmer ranking that got Aveyard to the 2001 World Championship meet in Fukuoka, Japan. She had been to the US nationals in the spring of 2001. She placed third there in the 200-yard backstroke, but since the second-place finisher ended up not going to the World Championships, and Aveyard went instead.

Aveyard describes the World Championship meet as very different from what she has experienced in college.

"I looked ghostly white--like a deer caught in headlights looks," said Aveyard. "If you needed anything, someone was there to give it to you. There were a lot of people there who were faster than I was, so it was neat to be treated like them."

Being around Olympians was an almost surreal experience for her.

"There were all these people at the meet who have gone to the Olympics, it was amazing," said Aveyard. "I was waiting for my event and was lying on the pool deck looking up at the big screen, watching Ed Moses swim. I've always known his name, but now he knows mine." (In 2001, Moses held world rankings of first in the 50-meter and 200-meter breaststrokes, second in the 100-meter breaststroke, he took the gold medal in the 400 meters in the 2000 Olympics.)

Aveyard advanced to the semifinals at the World Championship meet, but despite all of her accomplishments, she enjoys swimming because of her teammates, coaches, and the physical and mental benefits she gets from the sport.

"It (swimming) is the best stress relief," said Aveyard. "The monotony of it gives you time to think or not think. When I'm stressed out, from 3-5 p.m. I go and swim. I could feel pressured at 2:45 p.m. but at 5:15 p.m., everything is fine."

Her favorite aapspect of being on the team, however, has been the relationships she has built.

"I can't imagine being a regular student," said Aveyard. "During my freshman year, I already had a group to identify with. I love my team and my coaches. They are family."

One of Aveyard's teammates, fellow senior Jen Peters, said the camaraderie among the swimmers makes the team what it is.

"Without each other, we wouldn't be able to do nearly as well," said Peters. "You depend on them (your teammates) and they depend on you. Independent events are great because they help the team, but we always have the team concept first in our mind."

Peters, who has been swimming with Aveyard every day since their freshman season, said it has been exciting to watch Jessica accomplish so many things over the years.

But Aveyard knows that swimming is just a sport. She saw her sister, Caitlin, have her swimming dreams ripped away from her after a rotator cuff injury ended her career. Caitlin, whom Jessica describes as an Olympic hopeful, was recruited to swim for Illinois but was injured during her senior year of high school.

"Caitlin identified herself as a swimmer, so (after her injury), I learned not to let that be my only thing," said Aveyard. "You can't take this too seriously--it's just a sport. Life goes on. I think of Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who was diagnosed with cancer and came back. It's about everything else with life. The minute this isn't fun is the minute I stop. There is not a lot of money in swimming and it is not what I plan to do for the rest of my life."

As far as the future for this Illinois senior goes, Aveyard will be at the University for a fifth year and plans to keep training with the team. She may try for the US team again, but is defintely planning on getting her MBA in marketing. Aveyard, who has been engaged since Thanksgiving of 2000, plans to get married after she graduates.

Right now, Aveyard is focusing on finishing her college swimming career with a bang. At the recent Big 10 women's Championship meet in Ann Arbor Mich., Aveyard placed second in the 200-yard backstroke and met the NCAA 'A' standard. She also placed fourth in the women's 500-yard freestyle and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle.

"When she's working out, she's giving everything she has and this shows the younger swimmers that it doesn't come easy to her," said Novitsky. "This year, she's been more vocal than in the past, with a little encouragement from me, but it all helps to make our team better."