In the Fast Lane: Joanne Sheng and Valerie Stout


DOB: 3/25/1983
HT/WT: 5'8"/145 lbs.
Hometown: Littleton, CO
Major: Cognitive Science

It takes four magic syllables to make a breastroker quiver with fear: Valerie Stout. This sophomore sensation has rocked SCIACs with a slew of accomplishments. During her two years at Pomona Stout has been named an Academic All-American twice, has been ranked among the top 16 breastrokers in the nation, has recently been voted the SCIAC swimmer of the year and has won the prestigious Zetterburg Award - a scholarship for an athlete who serves as a prime example of scholarship, athletics and character. And there is more but she won't tell…

JO: Many competitive swimmers begin their careers at an early age, when did you first strap on that Speedo?

VAL: I started swimming when I was eight or nine years old with my neighborhood team in the summer. I stuck with that for a couple years then I started swimming on a club team two to three times a week when I was 11 or 12. We were called Aquawolves, it was awesome. After that I swam for my high school team and during our senior year we won states and that was awesome as well. That was the biggest of the big time swimming that I'd done until college.

JO: Who is the biggest role model in your life and why?

VAL: Well, it kind of varies from moment to moment. My club coach for swimming was a huge role model for me; he was just one of those people you meet and you don't realize how amazing they are at first because they don't like to brag about themselves. He was such an amazing person… he was in the Peace Corps, lived in India, was an awesome swimmer himself and was really smart and went to a great school and did a lot of great things. That guy was amazing.

JO: I heard that women on the Pomona-Pitzer swim team are animals in the water. They are often described as dominating, fearsome, and exceedingly good-looking. How did winter training go this year?

VAL: Well, let's start off by saying that during freshman year I feared winter training like none other, but now that I've gone through two seasons of it I totally look forward to it because it's definitely an opportunity to commit 100% to just your physical self. You are just too tired to think of anything emotional or school related. A typical day for us in January was waking up at around seven, having breakfast, and either lifting weights or doing water weights. Then we would swim for two to two and a half hours, have a lunch break, a short nap, and come back in the afternoon for some ply metrics - which definitely kicked my butt the most. Then we'd swim for about another couple hours. At the peak we were swimming about 13,000 yards a day. Winter training really prepares you physically and mentally but the most important part is the team bonding. We spent a lot of time together but it's not like spending time together playing checkers… in swimming we bond because we're all in so much pain.

JO: Painful bonding definitely makes for a tightly knit team. What were the team dynamics like this year?

VAL: I think we had awesome senior leadership this year and as a team we were much closer than we were last year. We had some very diverse personalities this year. Sometimes this might make it harder, especially since we're such a big team, but it makes it so much more fun and real in the long run. Everyone is just being themselves and contributing their own little piece. And of course, there is Penny.

JO: Who is this Penny?

VAL: Penny is our coach. She is an incredible and amazing woman. I think that a lot of the success that comes out of the team is, of course, due to the athletes who actually perform but Penny is an amazing part of our success. Swimming is an individual sport but it is also a team sport and it would be very easy for her to make everyone one kind of swimmer, but she is definitely good at recognizing the individuality and the innate possibilities in everyone, which is awesome.

JO: If you had a choice between (karate) kicking or (leg) stretching, which one would you choose?

VAL: I think I'm a stretcher; it's a little more peaceful.

JO: What are your best events?

VAL: My best event is definitely the 200 breastroke, which is interesting because I had only swam it three times prior to college. At first I though it was just the longest thing ever but now I like the chance to get into my rhythm and get going. It seems a little more like a stroll in the park… as opposed to a sprint in the park… you know, the metaphorical park. I also really like IM's (fly, back, breast, free), but not the 400 IM because it's too long. The 200 is a good distance because you get a little taste of everything. And for some sick reason I really like the 200 fly, it's one of those things where after you get out you feel so proud of yourself because you just swam eight lengths of fly.

JO: I too, love the 200 fly; it is fabulous. What goes through your head before and during a race?

VAL: Behind the blocks I'm too nervous to really process how I'm going to swim so I focus on little things, like, is my suit crooked, is my cap going to fall off, are my goggles going to fall off? So I obsessively fix my suit and cap and tighten my goggles because that's all I can really do. When I get up on the block and am looking down at my feet, I just think, "here we go." When I'm in the water, especially in breastroke races I don't really think about anything except to stretch out and have fun. For the last 10-15 yards I'm almost there so I might as well give it all I've got. I like to make it burn as much as possible; you might as well, because you don't get brownie points for jumping out of the water faster after the race. It's better to die at the wall and have someone pull you out - more glory.

JO: Do you have any particular superstitions during meets?

VAL: The only semi-superstition I have is the tightening of the goggles, to the point where I don't even know how I see anything. I cut off all the circulation to my head. I am really paranoid of my goggles falling off.

JO: How did the team do this year and how is next year looking?

VAL: The team had an awesome season this year. It was the first time in history that we went undefeated in dual meets. I was really hoping that we'd take SCIAC's, but oh well. I think that we're just going to get better from this point. Now that we've had a taste of how good we can be and how much talent we have we're just going to try harder and get better. We're losing a lot of good seniors this season but hopefully we'll be gaining a lot of fast freshmen so it should all work out. I am hoping for some really tough and inspirational freshmen because I'm losing Lucia, Robin and Jessie as my training partners. They are workhorses. The amount of fly that Jessie does, the amount of IM that Robin does, and the amount of do everything as hard as you can that Lucia does in practice is simply amazing. I will definitely miss them.