Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Nicole Mackey

Steve Virgen

If there’s anything you need to know about Nicole Mackey, just look

at the move she made recently.

Mackey, a prolific Newport Harbor High swimmer who was fearing

complacency, made the jump from the Irvine Aquazots swim club to Irvine

Novaquatics.

Her will to win and her desire to improve are the same attributes that

have made her a leader of the Newport swim team this season.

“I wasn’t training very well and I had a really bad meet in Las Vegas

in December,” said Mackey, a junior. “That woke me up and I was like: I

need to start to training now. I had to start working hard. So, I moved

over and started training with (Irvine Novaquatics), and I get to train

with Olympians, people who kick my butt up and down the pool; so that

will help me. It will make me better.”

Mackey said she enjoyed her time with the Aquazots, and that Coach

Brian Pajer wished her the best in her move to the Novas.

Newport Coach Ken LaMont, who is also a coach for the Novas, said the

move has rejuvenated Mackey’s approach to swimming. And, some of the

results came last week.

Mackey won the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.98) and the 100

backstroke (58.70), and contributed in the Sailors’ victorious 400

freestyle relay at the Palm Springs Invitational April 27. The Daily

Pilot Athlete of the Week also won the 100 butterfly (56.71) and the 100

breaststroke (1:11.83), and contributed to two winning relays in a meet

against Edison April 25.

“She has big goals for the summer, and I think her training right now

reflects that,” LaMont said of Mackey, who wants to qualify for world

competition by achieving success in the National Championships in Florida

in August. “She’s with Dave (Salo) now. She has this new excitement.

She’s training with people like Gabby Rose, Aaron Peirsol, Diana

MacManus. Now that she’s training with some of the best in the world, she

has some rejuvenation for competition. She’s a very talented kid.”

Mackey has also found the balance of club swimming and high school

competition. She has built relationships this season. Last week was the

first time she went on the team trip to Palm Springs.

“I had lots of fun there,” Mackey said of being with the Sailors in

Palm Springs. “It’s fun being with them and cheering them on. We went to

(a local amusement park) and rode the cars around, played golf, a whole

bunch of fun stuff. And, we did a bunch of girl stuff.”

Mackey has also enjoyed fulfilling her role for the Sailors. With her

strength as a medley swimmer, Mackey has been able to contribute to

Newport in various events.

“She’s very versatile,” LaMont said. “She’s not swimming her two

fastest events, which is the IM and the backstroke. Instead, she’s doing

the butterfly and breaststroke.”

Mackey is No. 2 in Orange County in the 200 IM (2:04.33) behind San

Clemente’s Kristen Caverly (2:03.64). Mackey is also No. 3 in the 100 fly

(57.24) and No. 4 in the 100 back (58.59).

However, when it’s time to score points for the Sailors, Mackey is

hardly concerned with top times. She just wants to win.

“Where ever coach puts me in, I will swim it and I will do my best,”

Mackey said. “The breaststroke, that’s my worst possible stroke and they

make me do it. And, in the medley relay, with the breaststroke, I feel so

slow. I want to catch up and win. It’s tough. But I gotta win. I’ll do

whatever I can to win.”