The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ARIANNA Vanderpool-Wallace is proof that hard work pays off.

Coming off a sensational 2014 season, Vanderpool-Wallace opened the year by picking up three medals at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend.

About two months since she closed out 2014 with four gold medals at the Central American and Caribbean Games in November, Vanderpool-Wallace won two gold in the 50 and 100m free and a silver in the 100 butterfly.

“I’m excited with how my swims went. It’s not exactly where I want to be but it is a movement in the right direction,” said Vanderpool-Wallace in an interview with The Tribune.

Looking at her performances, one would think that Vanderpool-Wallace was surprised, but it was quite the opposite.

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised,” she said. “We have been putting a lot of hard work in to swim fast so I’m glad that the work is paying off and now I can continue to push forward.”

Vanderpool-Wallace, a member of the SwimMac Carolina, opened her meet on Thursday when she picked up the silver in the 100m butterfly by clocking one minute and 71 seconds to trail gold medallist Audrey Lacroix, who won in 59.62. She actually led the race through the first 50m in 27.96, but couldn’t hold off Lacroix at the end.

Having warmed up to the competition, the 24-year-old Vanderpool-Wallace came back on Friday and touched the wall in 24.85 seconds as she pulled away from the rest of the field for her first triumph in the meet. She also had the best preliminary time of 25.10.

And on Saturday, Vanderpool-Wallace completed her sprint sweep of the day with a 55.38 in the women’s 100 free. She sprinted out with an aggressive front-half of 26.29 and was able to hold off the field for the victory. This time, Vanderpool-Wallace came out of the prelims with the second best time of 56.18, splitting in 27.03, the fastest in the first 50.

When asked which of the events she enjoyed the most, Vanderpool-Wallace said: “Each event was just so dramatically different, I couldn’t really pick one. I’ve been working on changing my technique in 100 freestyle so I was excited to try it out in racing conditions for the first time.”

But there was a lot of competition, which made her compete hard in all three events.

“The Orlando portion of the pro swim series brings in a lot of foreign athletes so it’s fun to have a chance to swim against people I don’t usually get to race throughout the year,” she said.