After Stellar SECs, Hartman Begins NCAA Quest
March 17, 2021 | Swimming & Diving, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
"There's always more," Georgia sophomore Zoie Hartman said a few days after her stellar performance at the SEC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships last month when she won three individual races and a relay.
There are more races to be won, faster times to post, and much more work to be done to achieve all of her dreams and goals.
"She's pretty special," said Jack Bauerle, Georgia's Tom Cousins Swimming and Diving head coach, "and I think she's going to become more so."
Hartman, from Danville, Calif., won conference championships in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, the 200 individual medley and was part of the winning 400 medley relay squad. She also helped Georgia, which finished third in the meet, take second in the 400 freestyle relay and third in the 800 free relay. Hartman earned a total of 96 points, tying her with Alabama's Rhyan White for the most points earned in the meet.
"That was one of the all-time best performances in the SEC Championships we have ever had," Bauerle said.
Of her three individual wins, Hartman said her 200 breaststroke victory in which she set a school record with a time of 2:05.05 stood out the most.
"I think my 200 breaststroke was the most satisfying and had the most 'wow' factor to it," she said. "When I was swimming, I didn't necessarily feel like I was going at 2:05. I knew that I was going to go a pretty good time just because the whole heat was very good, and when I saw that time at the end I was very surprised. I was like, maybe I feel stronger than I actually thought."
On the day we sat down to talk, Hartman had just received her SEC Commissioner's Trophy that she shared with White.
"It means a lot to me," she said of her performance at SECs and sharing high-scorer honors. "It means that all of my hard work has paid off. I will continue to keep improving and hopefully next year we'll be the No. 1 team in the SEC.
"I just know that I've got to keep to the grind and keep doing what I'm doing, and I know that I'm not where I want to be."
Where Hartman and 13 of her Georgia teammates are right now is the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C. The meet begins Wednesday night with the 800 freestyle relay and then continues through the weekend. Hartman is seeded in the top three in all three of her individual events: first in the 100 breaststroke, second in the 200 breaststroke and third in the 200 IM. She will also swim on multiple relays.
"What I like about her the most is her ability to just race," Bauerle said. "She doesn't worry about who's ahead, who's behind — she never lets a swim go."
Hartman stands about 6-foot-2, "and she's got the arms to match," Bauerle said. "But that really doesn't matter much unless you know how to race the last 10 yards and get your hand to the wall correctly. There's technique involved and then there's the other thing involved, and that's toughness."
When the pandemic hit a year ago, canceling the NCAAs that were scheduled to be held at Georgia, Hartman ranked in the top four nationally in her three main events. But instead of getting to race, she was back home, where she wasn't able to get in the pool for about two months during quarantine.
The break may have been the best thing that ever happened to her.
"I think it did a lot of good for a lot of people. I at first didn't know how to handle it. I was asking people, 'What do I do now?'" she said. "It let me come to the realization that I need to figure out who I am outside of swimming, because I know swimming is not going to last forever. I have to find hobbies and things that I like that I can keep doing for as long as I can.
"I think that helped me figure out who I am and in return that helped in my swimming, being confident in who I was and appreciating what I've done."
Along with a lot of reading, cooking and baking — "There were a lot of trials and tribulations in my baking during quarantine," she said with a laugh — Hartman, an Exercise and Sport Science major, thought a lot about life after swimming.
"I think just coming to terms with what I want to do in the future, career-wise, and I think that I really have dialed it in," she said. "I want to be a physical therapist and I think I'm going to start minoring in business to help me if I want to create my own practice."
Before she embarks on life after swimming, there are countless practice laps to swim and many, many races in her future, starting this week in Greensboro. Leading up to NCAAs, Hartman said she mainly focused on the technical aspects of her swimming.
"I think my pace and speed are where they need to be, I just need to work on hitting my walls right and maybe extending a pullout longer, or maybe shorter, depending on how the race goes," she said. "I think working on small technical things will help out at NCs and out further."
When she's piling up the yardage during her morning swim — the first half of the daily two-a-day that all elite swimmers must endure on the road to greatness — Hartman often finds herself not thinking about anything at all.
Staring at that black line at the bottom of the pool, she often lets her mind go free, to anywhere or nowhere. If an 8,000-meter swim can provide a moment of zen, and some morning workouts are much more enjoyable than others. Hartman finds that peace and makes the most of it.
"Sometimes I'm not thinking, and I think that might be better," she said. "Just blocking out everything and focusing on how you feel in the water. I sometimes think about what I have to do for homework. That helps the time go by faster."
Said teammate Maddie Homovich, who will be swimming the 500 and 1,650 freestyle and the 200 backstroke: "I think that she's very focused and determined, and I think everyone can tell that when she's in the water swimming. It's every single day in practice, she's on her game."
Hartman has a long way to go to place herself alongside the all-time Georgia greats, swimming legends like Kara Lynn Joyce, Kristy Kowal, Maritza Correia McClendon, Melanie Margalis, Olivia Smoliga and way too more to include here, but she's on her way.
Seeing Margalis and Smoliga, 2016 Olympians who swim professionally and still train at Georgia, at the pool every day provides plenty of motivation for Hartman. Margalis is one of the best IM swimmers in the world and Hartman said it's both inspiring and sometimes humbling to be in the pool with her.
"It's a huge honor," she said, "and I'm always still in awe when I'm training with them because I think, Oh, I'm catching up with Melanie Margalis, and then she shoots off in front of me again and I'm like, never mind. It just keeps me going and it's such an honor to be training with them, and to be at a place with a legacy like Georgia's."
It's a legacy that Hartman wants to add to this week and in the future.
"I think it symbolizes that it's there and I can get it if I really want to. I think that helps a lot of people on the team train, seeing people like Smogs or Melanie in the water doing what they're doing, and knowing that they are at that level but you can get there too."
Staff Writer
"There's always more," Georgia sophomore Zoie Hartman said a few days after her stellar performance at the SEC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships last month when she won three individual races and a relay.
There are more races to be won, faster times to post, and much more work to be done to achieve all of her dreams and goals.
"She's pretty special," said Jack Bauerle, Georgia's Tom Cousins Swimming and Diving head coach, "and I think she's going to become more so."
Hartman, from Danville, Calif., won conference championships in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, the 200 individual medley and was part of the winning 400 medley relay squad. She also helped Georgia, which finished third in the meet, take second in the 400 freestyle relay and third in the 800 free relay. Hartman earned a total of 96 points, tying her with Alabama's Rhyan White for the most points earned in the meet.
"That was one of the all-time best performances in the SEC Championships we have ever had," Bauerle said.
Of her three individual wins, Hartman said her 200 breaststroke victory in which she set a school record with a time of 2:05.05 stood out the most.
"I think my 200 breaststroke was the most satisfying and had the most 'wow' factor to it," she said. "When I was swimming, I didn't necessarily feel like I was going at 2:05. I knew that I was going to go a pretty good time just because the whole heat was very good, and when I saw that time at the end I was very surprised. I was like, maybe I feel stronger than I actually thought."
On the day we sat down to talk, Hartman had just received her SEC Commissioner's Trophy that she shared with White.
"It means a lot to me," she said of her performance at SECs and sharing high-scorer honors. "It means that all of my hard work has paid off. I will continue to keep improving and hopefully next year we'll be the No. 1 team in the SEC.
"I just know that I've got to keep to the grind and keep doing what I'm doing, and I know that I'm not where I want to be."
Where Hartman and 13 of her Georgia teammates are right now is the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C. The meet begins Wednesday night with the 800 freestyle relay and then continues through the weekend. Hartman is seeded in the top three in all three of her individual events: first in the 100 breaststroke, second in the 200 breaststroke and third in the 200 IM. She will also swim on multiple relays.
"What I like about her the most is her ability to just race," Bauerle said. "She doesn't worry about who's ahead, who's behind — she never lets a swim go."
Hartman stands about 6-foot-2, "and she's got the arms to match," Bauerle said. "But that really doesn't matter much unless you know how to race the last 10 yards and get your hand to the wall correctly. There's technique involved and then there's the other thing involved, and that's toughness."
When the pandemic hit a year ago, canceling the NCAAs that were scheduled to be held at Georgia, Hartman ranked in the top four nationally in her three main events. But instead of getting to race, she was back home, where she wasn't able to get in the pool for about two months during quarantine.
The break may have been the best thing that ever happened to her.
"I think it did a lot of good for a lot of people. I at first didn't know how to handle it. I was asking people, 'What do I do now?'" she said. "It let me come to the realization that I need to figure out who I am outside of swimming, because I know swimming is not going to last forever. I have to find hobbies and things that I like that I can keep doing for as long as I can.
"I think that helped me figure out who I am and in return that helped in my swimming, being confident in who I was and appreciating what I've done."
Along with a lot of reading, cooking and baking — "There were a lot of trials and tribulations in my baking during quarantine," she said with a laugh — Hartman, an Exercise and Sport Science major, thought a lot about life after swimming.
"I think just coming to terms with what I want to do in the future, career-wise, and I think that I really have dialed it in," she said. "I want to be a physical therapist and I think I'm going to start minoring in business to help me if I want to create my own practice."
Before she embarks on life after swimming, there are countless practice laps to swim and many, many races in her future, starting this week in Greensboro. Leading up to NCAAs, Hartman said she mainly focused on the technical aspects of her swimming.
"I think my pace and speed are where they need to be, I just need to work on hitting my walls right and maybe extending a pullout longer, or maybe shorter, depending on how the race goes," she said. "I think working on small technical things will help out at NCs and out further."
When she's piling up the yardage during her morning swim — the first half of the daily two-a-day that all elite swimmers must endure on the road to greatness — Hartman often finds herself not thinking about anything at all.
Staring at that black line at the bottom of the pool, she often lets her mind go free, to anywhere or nowhere. If an 8,000-meter swim can provide a moment of zen, and some morning workouts are much more enjoyable than others. Hartman finds that peace and makes the most of it.
"Sometimes I'm not thinking, and I think that might be better," she said. "Just blocking out everything and focusing on how you feel in the water. I sometimes think about what I have to do for homework. That helps the time go by faster."
Said teammate Maddie Homovich, who will be swimming the 500 and 1,650 freestyle and the 200 backstroke: "I think that she's very focused and determined, and I think everyone can tell that when she's in the water swimming. It's every single day in practice, she's on her game."
Hartman has a long way to go to place herself alongside the all-time Georgia greats, swimming legends like Kara Lynn Joyce, Kristy Kowal, Maritza Correia McClendon, Melanie Margalis, Olivia Smoliga and way too more to include here, but she's on her way.
Seeing Margalis and Smoliga, 2016 Olympians who swim professionally and still train at Georgia, at the pool every day provides plenty of motivation for Hartman. Margalis is one of the best IM swimmers in the world and Hartman said it's both inspiring and sometimes humbling to be in the pool with her.
"It's a huge honor," she said, "and I'm always still in awe when I'm training with them because I think, Oh, I'm catching up with Melanie Margalis, and then she shoots off in front of me again and I'm like, never mind. It just keeps me going and it's such an honor to be training with them, and to be at a place with a legacy like Georgia's."
It's a legacy that Hartman wants to add to this week and in the future.
"I think it symbolizes that it's there and I can get it if I really want to. I think that helps a lot of people on the team train, seeing people like Smogs or Melanie in the water doing what they're doing, and knowing that they are at that level but you can get there too."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
