Rikki Covey excited about prospects

Rikki Covey became a state champion swimmer while attending a school, West Valley High, that does not have a swim program.

To be eligible to swim at school-sanctioned meets, she made a regular trek to Cheney for workouts with the Blackhawks – a 50-mile round trip.

With all that work just to compete, let alone excel, it came as a surprise to hear Covey say she was close to giving up the sport.

That’s how uncomfortable she became last winter at the start of her sophomore season at Penn State University.

“Penn State is a national power,” the junior-to-be explained. “But I wasn’t getting along with my coach and I didn’t like the way I had to swim. It got to the point where I hated to go to practice. I thought seriously about quitting and just being a student.”

Instead, she listened to a voice of reason, her brother, Joe – who faced the same struggle to excel at West Valley and was then a senior at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

“I’d visited him at TCU and I liked the school,” Rikki explained. “He talked me into coming down there and swimming.”

At the start of the spring semester, Rikki joined her brother in Texas for the final meets of the Conference USA season and immediately helped the Horned Frogs, a team that was ranked No. 3 in Mid-Major Power Poll at the end of the 2004-05 season.

In a key meet with Louisiana State, she led a sweep by TCU in the 1,000 freestyle and placed second in the 500 free and the 200 backstroke.

Despite limited action, she was named one of the Horned Frogs’ most outstanding swimmers, posting team-best times in the 200 and 500 free, the 200 back and 400 individual medley. Covey earned four medals at the Conference USA championships including a gold in the 200 back. She also swam on the school’s 800 freestyle relay team that set both meet and school records and posted a school record in the 500 free (4:56.19) while placing fourth in the conference finals.

“I feel so at home here,” she said. “We still work hard and train hard, but it’s fun to practice again.”

And there’s a big difference in the classroom, as well.

“I go to a class here and I have, maybe, 15 or 20 students in there with me,” she explained. “At Penn State I was in classes with 450 students all gathered in an auditorium.”

Having her brother nearby helps with acclimation.

“Joe got a job close to campus so he’ll be able to watch me swim the next two years,” Rikki said.

Another part of that feeling stems from Covey’s solid relationship with TCU coach Richard Sybesma.

“Part of what makes being here fun is that they tend to stick me into any event where they feel they need points,” she said. “What I swim varies from meet to meet, but I am in on all of the relays. But the coach talks to me before every meet and allows me to have some input into team strategy.”

With the start of her first full year at TCU, Covey is excited about the team’s prospects.

“First of all, we’re moving into the Mountain West Conference,” she said. “It’s a good conference for us and it’s a better swimming conference than Conference USA was. Plus, the schools are in the West so I’ll be able to swim closer to home.”

“I’m really looking forward to her meet at UNLV,” her mother, Leslie, said with a laugh. “Who wouldn’t?”

Rikki looks ahead at a potential conference championship in the school’s first effort.

“I looked at the teams in the conference and I think we have a really good shot at finishing first or second,” she said. “We still have to go out and swim every meet, but it’s good to know how things look.”

TCU opens the 2005-06 season on Oct. 20, against Colorado State in Fort Collins.

Covey is eager to experience a home swim meet.

“I got here at the end of the season so I still don’t know what home swim meets are like,” she said. “I know we have good student support. I’m looking forward to it.”

She’s also looking forward to a new competition: triathlon.

“I’ve always felt that I’ve been swimming my best when I’ve been running my best. It’s been fun doing them both and training for the triathlon.

“I’m just hoping that I can give myself enough of a lead in the swim to give myself a chance on the bike and in the run.”