Cannady swims to success

For someone who didn’t start swimming competitively until the eighth grade, Sara Cannady has made up for lost time.

In only her second year of competitive collegiate swimming, she has won numerous honors and awards.

She’s been named co-captain of the Falcon swim team, was the Falcon Swimmer of the Week for Nov. 11 and, that same week, was also named the WIAC Swimmer of the Week. She won the award after placing first in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events, helping her relay team place second in the 400-yard medley against St. Lawrence University.

She also swam well at the St. John’s December Invitational, placing first in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 100-meter butterfly, and leading the Falcons to beating the University of North Dakota 706-139.

On Dec. 9, she placed first in the 100-meter fly.

This year, she has joined the ranks of some of the best UWRF swimmers, with her time of 1:10.93 in the 100-meter breaststroke placing third on the all-time list and her time of 2:21.73 in the 200-meter IM placing sixth.

Cannady originally started with synchronized swimming, but her coach encouraged her to swim competitively in the off-season.

“I loved competitive swimming so much that I quit synchro and switched to competitive swimming full time,” she said.

In choosing a college, Cannady knew she wanted to continue swimming. After visiting UWRF she said she liked the swimming program, which influenced her decision to come here.

She also chose River Falls because of the size, the communicative disorders major and for its proximity to her home in Bloomington, Minn., where she attended Jefferson High School.

Cannady said she will be graduating with a degree in communicative disorders next year, and hopes to be accepted into the masters program here. Once done with that she hopes to become a speech therapist in a school, nursing home or hospital.

Cannady is very active on campus, working as a resident assistant in Parker Hall, participating in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Speech Therapy Club, and teaching swimming lessons.

Academically, Cannady has done well, being named to the Dean’s List and the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll after the 2005-06 school year. She also works as a lifeguard, which she says she finds rather boring.

With the season half over, Cannady is very happy with how it has been going.

“Our team has always been a close one and this year is no exception,” she said. “[The team] had some awesome meets so far and a lot of personal bests…this season has been awesome and I think we’re going to do some great things next semester as well.”

The Falcons will continue the season Dec. 16 at Hamline University. The meet starts at 1 p.m.