2 days Ago By Madeline Warren
ROCHESTER – Julia Ogren didn’t always like to swim. The John Marshall junior swimmer started the sport when she was young but took some years off to pursue basketball and soccer. She got back into swimming in seventh grade because of her sister, Anna, who was a senior on the team at the time.
“I swam with my sister for a year, and I was only planning on doing that one year, but then I ended up liking a lot of girls a lot, so I kind of just stuck with it,” Ogren said. “I'm very fortunate to have two good teams to train with and good people and good coaches. It's been really good, and I really love swimming now.
” ADVERTISEMENT Anna is a senior on the women’s swimming and diving team at the University of Alabama. “She's definitely probably one of my biggest influences, swimming-wise, and out of the water,” Ogren said about her older sister. “It's hard for her to be across the country, but she's great.
And she definitely has helped me a lot with technique. I love watching her stroke so I can learn from it.” Ogren said she wants to swim in college, and Anna has helped her navigate the recruiting process.
“I kind of narrowed it down to five schools as of now,” Ogren said. “I’ll probably decide my college in November. We'll just see how it goes.
I'm excited for it. It's been really fun so far, and I've met a lot of good people, and my sister's been very important in that process.” Ogren has become one of the area's top swimmers in just a few years, earning top-three finishes at the Class 2A state meet in the 100 and 200 freestyle last season.
Before that, she set the Section 1, Class 2A record in the 200 freestyle, clocking in at 1:51.56. JM head coach Lauren Kalwasinski is in her second season at the helm of the Rockets but she’s been a swim coach in Rochester for seven years.
“She’s always got a smile on her face so it's a delight to coach her,” Kalwasinski said of Ogren. “She works every day, if not twice a day, at her sport and at her passion. So it's really great to see her grow and move forward from what she did last year, and she's just ready to go for this year.
” ADVERTISEMENT Ogren’s dedication, determination and great attitude contribute to her success in the pool, Kalwasinski said. “She wants to work hard every day,” Kalwasinski said. “She never complains when I give her a set that is almost nearly impossible on the board.
” Kalwasinski said Ogren leads in and out of the pool. She added Ogren learns from the captains in preparation to possibly hold the title next season as a senior. “She leads by example in the water, but she just builds off of that every year,” Kalwasinski said.
“As an upperclassman, she kind of knows the ropes now at this point, so she's always there helping girls learn how to do a flip turn or learning how to do a dive. So, that's really fun to see.” Since Ogren is a member of the Rochester Swim Club, she is close friends with Century junior Sophie Blixt and Mayo junior Madeline Gau.
The trio has dominated the Rochester swimming scene for the past few years. “We all have our own things, but we also compete a lot because we overlap a lot,” Ogren said. “They're very fun to race and train with.
And they're great people. So, it's really a fun group.” Kalwasinski said JM is the smallest swim team of the high schools in Rochester but it continues to grow.
ADVERTISEMENT “I'm happy that we're in the 20s this year,” Kalwasinski said. “That's really exciting for the team.” As for her goals for the season, Kalwasinski said she hopes her team can increase its performance in the postseason.
“We're trying to figure out what events we want to swim towards the end of the season, but scoring more points and getting our relays and higher seeds at the section meet is a big goal of mine,” Kalwasinski said. Another target for this season is to create a strong team camaraderie and bond — which Kalwasinski said they’ve already achieved. “All the girls get along, and it's been really fun to see,” Kalwasinski said.
Ogren shared Kalwasinski’s sentiment about the team culture. “We definitely all cheer for each other and support each other in practice and at meets,” Ogren said. “We hang out, we’ll have parties and team bonding a lot, and it's been very fun.
It's a very positive team too, where we like to try to stay away from negative self-talk.” ADVERTISEMENT Her swimming schedule keeps her busy, but when she does have free time, Ogren loves the outdoors, hiking and, of course, swimming. “I'm a big summer fan,” Ogren said.
“I love going to a lake.” While it’s shaping up to be another solid season for Ogren and the Rockets, she’s staying focused and has a couple of goals for herself. “I want to go into every meet with a positive attitude and with a will to drop time,” Ogren said.
“(And) I definitely want to have a positive impact on the team this year. I think it's very important that we have a lot of new people, and I think I'd love to see them grow and develop their stroke and all that. .
.. I've really had a lot of fun this season, and it's just getting started.
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