Back in the water
Laura Goettler had a coveted gold medal dangling around her neck.
But she didn't feel like a champion.
Not really.
Last March, as the coronavirus pandemic hit in full force, Goettler, a senior on the Butler girls swimming and diving team, won the preliminary race in the 100-yard breaststroke at the PIAA Class AAA swimming and diving championships at Bucknell University.
The rest of the meet was abruptly canceled and championships were handed out based on the prelim results.
Goettler had merely cruised to her win. She didn't go all out, preferring instead to leave some gas in the tank for the finals.
Finals that never came.
“It didn't seem right,” Goettler said.Not much felt right after that for Goettler.What followed were painful months of inactivity. With no pools open, Goettler — a swimmer almost before she could walk — was in purgatory on dry land.The one thing she had to look forward to — the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. — was also postponed for a year.“There were some dark times,” Goettler admitted. “When trials got (postponed), it just kind of felt like there was nothing to look forward to. There was nothing for so long.”Goettler tried to stay motivated while do doing dry-land workouts. She ran a little. Did the training her coaches with her new team at Duquesne University sent her.But without the feel of moving through the water, everything felt hollow.“I'm not going to say I was totally doing everything I could to stay in shape,” Goettler said. “It was really hard. It was hard to stay motivated when there was nothing open.”Finally, in late June, Goettler was able to get back into the water again. It was freeing and an end to some very long months.“The longest I had ever taken off was four weeks,” Goettler said. “It was excruciating.”Now, Goettler is back competing again for Duquesne and feeling close to her old self again.Goettler won the 100 breaststroke — the only first-place finish for the Dukes — against Buffalo in the first meet of the season Friday. She also placed second in the 50-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley.It was a good start for Goettler, who is trying to not get bogged down on times this early in the season.“I'm mainly focused on just getting yardage and getting back in shape,” Goettler said. “I am trying to get back holding certain times, just so I have a gauge on where I'm at.”Goettler said getting back into the water and competing was surreal.The last time she was able to square off in the pool against another swimmer was at the state meet nearly a year ago.“I didn't even know what I was supposed to do before I got on the blocks again, getting ready and prepared for a race,” Goettler said, chuckling. “The first couple of races were a little iffy. Finally, later on in my other two races, it felt easier and natural again.”Goettler is still on edge.The Duquesne swimming team has already had a brush with COVID-19. Several of her teammates tested positive recently and the program was shut down for 10 days.Goettler, who never tested positive for the virus, was in quarantine for a week.“I'm hoping we'll be able to keep training and have no more mishaps with COVID,” Goettler said. “That just puts a delay on everything. Right now I'm just hoping to stay in the water and keep training.”Goettler is training for something bigger than an Atlantic 10 title at Duquesne.She still has those Olympic Trials on the horizon — July 23 through Aug. 6.But even that will be different this year.The trials will be split into two “waves,” Goettler said. The first wave is the swimmers with the slower times. The second wave is the faster swimmers. They will swim two weeks after the first wave.Right now, Goettler is in the first wave.Swimmers in the second wave have a distinct advantage.“I'm hoping I can swim some meets and get into wave two,” Goettler said. “If you do end up top two in wave one, you can progress to wave two, but that's a big risk you are taking.”Goettler still has trouble wrapping her mind around the events of the last year.“It's insane,” Goettler said. “My mind is really just blown about how all of this could happen in one year, how everything could change and never be the same.”
