After a tryout with the Utah coaching staff, Alexandra Jamora only had one more obstacle to overcome in order to join her sister on the Utes’ swim team.
"I just had to get through the first six weeks of training," she said.
Jamora had just spent two years at the LDS Business College in Utah and wasn’t in the same shape she was as a swimmer and water polo player at Kapolei High, where she graduated in 2009.
All she had to do was survive the training to make it, which wasn’t easy.
"Everything," she said when asked what was the toughest part. "I had to get back in shape, I had to build myself back up every day and be able to keep up while learning how to balance a university school load with practices. It was up to me whether I would cut myself or not."
Her dedication and perseverance allowed her to spend the past three years as teammates with her younger sister, Maddie, on the Utah women’s swimming team.
Entering this weekend’s rivalry meet against Brigham Young, the Utes are ranked No. 22 in the country.
Maddie, who swims the short freestyle and backstroke events, has posted the team’s third-best time in the 50-yard free (23.72 seconds) and seventh-best mark in the 100-yard backstroke (58.15) this year.
Alexandra has the team’s fourth-best time in the 100-yard freestyle (52.32).
"I’m very happy (because) I didn’t even think I would go faster than my high school times and I’ve gotten faster each year so far," Alexandra said. "In the next month or so I still just want to keep dropping my times and go to the Pac-12 (championship) and finish off my year knowing our team is on that road to improving and getting better."
Unlike her sister, Maddie didn’t have to walk on. She was awarded a partial scholarship out of high school, when she graduated from Kapolei two years after her sister, in 2011.
She had a chance to stay home and swim for UH and was also recruited heavily by BYU, but settled on Utah, where her sister would soon join her.
"My coach for club knew the former head coach here, so I took an unofficial trip and loved it," Maddie said. "I loved the facilities and the campus here, with all of the mountains in the background, plus the aspect of being away from home and trying new things. This is where I wanted to go."
Both Alexandra and Maddie played tour guide when the team spent a week in October over fall break on a training trip in Hawaii.
They stayed in Waikiki and practiced at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex at UH, where they swam in an exhibition against the Rainbow Wahine.
Growing up on the west side of Oahu, the two got a different glimpse of what Hawaii is like, playing the role of tourists.
"It was interesting, but it was also fun to see our teammates’ reactions to different things in Hawaii," Maddie said. "It was fun to show them around because for a lot of them, it was their first time being in the Pacific Ocean.
"We did some different touristy things, but we also knew the good food spots for where to take them to eat."
The Utes have four more meets before the conference championship at the end of next month in Federal Way, Wash.
Five teams from the Pac-12 are ranked ahead of Utah in the NCAA’s Top 25.
"Our program has expanded and really grown a lot just from being in the Pac-12," Maddie said. "It’s been an awesome experience. But I’m not going to lie. It has also been the hardest I’ve ever had to train in my life."
