Erin McNulty had the pool to herself. But she wasn’t alone in her pursuit of a long-standing goal.
McNulty was the only collegiate swimmer entered in the 100-meter butterfly final at the Hawaii Senior Swimming Championships on Nov. 15, her competitor the poolside clock at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
The University of Hawaii junior recalls the silence waiting for the start and the cheers when she hit the water, the support from the deck complementing the rhythm of her strokes as the seconds raced toward her target time of 1 minute, 1.19 seconds — the standard to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials.
When McNulty touched the wall, she found the display and “the clock kept going.”
“So I saw it going 1:01, 1:02, and I was ‘nooo,’ ” McNulty said.
“Then it flashed back to my time and I didn’t register it at first. But everyone cheered and then I pieced it together and it was pretty cool.”
McNulty had completed the race in a state open long course record 1:00.68, qualifying to compete in a meet she’d aimed for since she watched the 2004 Olympic trials with her father, Brendan, in Long Beach, Calif.
But the path from a 10-year-old dreaming of swimming in the trials to reaching the qualifying time last month was hardly a straight shot for McNulty.
A runner and swimmer growing up in the small Northern California town of Arcata, McNulty had pushed through pain in her ankle since she was 14. She managed to grind through her freshman year at UH but opted for surgery after the season. She had two procedures done which kept her out of the water for the next 14 months.
When McNulty got back in the pool following the redshirt year it was “very hard to get back into practices and be able to keep up with the team,” she said. “I think taking it step by step really helped and giving myself little goals.”
By February she had regained enough speed to place third in the 100-yard butterfly and swim on UH’s victorious 200 medley relay team at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships to contribute to UH’s first team title.
McNulty had a third surgery in the spring and is developing more power in her kick this season. After securing the Olympic trials qualifying time last month, she went through a full program at the A3 Performance Invitational — a rarity earlier in her career — and placed second in the 100 fly and fifth in the 200 fly.
“Physically she’s in a much better place. Mentally I think she knows she can attain those goals so that gives her a little more motivation to make a push for making NCAAs this year,” UH assistant coach Jennifer Buffin said.
As McNulty heads toward the end of a gratifying 2015, the opportunities ahead — including the Olympic trials set for June in Omaha, Neb., — continue to propel her through a daily training regimen.
“I’ve worked really hard to get back at it, to keep improving,” McNulty said. “Coming back from all that made me realize I’m not just coming back for it to be mediocre or to be OK or be what I used to be. If I’m going to go through all that, I’m going to make it worth it. Definitely tried to be better and still trying to be better.”
PROFILE
Erin McNulty
>> Class: Junior
>> Major: Fine Art, minor in Sociology
>> Hometown: Acata, Calif.
>> High School: Arcata
>> Quick Facts: Four-year MVP of the swimming team in high school. … Father, Brendan, swam collegiately at Rutgers. Mother, Laura, is an accomplished runner and personal trainer and helped with Erin’s rehab. … Interested in entering UH’s museum studies program. … Prior to surgery the longest time she’d spent out of the water was “maybe a week.” … Has a younger sister and brother. At 5-foot-11, Erin is the only member of her family under 6 feet. … UH sent six swimmers to the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials with Christa Prior representing the women.
