Posted on: Wednesday, January 12, 2005
HOMEGROWN REPORT
Stanford's Sun juggles time in pool, school
| • | Washington State gets lift from Low |
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, you won't find Stanford sophomore Hongzhe Sun near a classroom. And he's in school only for a couple of hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Advertiser library photo "But we get the same amount of work done."
Just because Sun's class load is light this quarter doesn't mean he's taking it easy. The 2003 Iolani graduate doesn't get much time off as a member of the Stanford swimming team.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — days when he could sleep in because he has no school — he has practice from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. He practices from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day in addition to the morning practices. Saturdays, practice starts at 7:30 a.m.
"You get used to it," Sun said.
But he said the amount of practices makes his light school schedule even more important. For now, he spends his limited time off doing homework, taking naps and watching some television.
"That worked out really well, actually," he said. "I like to schedule school so I can get a nap in.
"When the school work picks up, I'll be doing a lot more homework during the day, and I'll be going to sleep earlier. Whereas usually I'll have classes during the day so I would have to do (my homework) at night."
Saving his energy for the pool has been rewarding for the Cardinal as well, as Sun helped them win the 400-yard medley relay with a season-best time of 3:14.77 Friday in a dual meet against Michigan.
"He has a chance to be a national champion," Stanford coach Skip Kenney said. "He's extremely talented and he's a great worker."
Sun also placed third in the 200 individual medley (1:49.14) and second in the 200 backstroke (1:45.24) in the same meet.
"Our team did really well; a lot of guys stepped up," Sun said. "It wasn't the greatest meet I had."
"This summer I didn't do much swimming and I was looking forward to getting back and training hard," said Sun, the 2003 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year. "That meet gave me the confidence, knowing I could get back even with that long break."
Sun took a break after competing in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in July, where he finished seventh in the finals of the 200-meter backstroke and set personal bests in the process.
"It showed me where I have areas where I need to improve," Sun said. "Moving into the college season with that experience, you gain confidence, and I feel like I learned a lot about what I need to do to be a better swimmer."
That positive attitude is in place every day, according to Kenney.
"There's nobody on the planet that is more fun to coach than Hong," Kenney said. "Even when he's off a little bit, he's such a happy guy, and there's never a bad day. Every day is a happy day."
Sun said he also improved last college season after swimming behind 2004 Olympic Silver medalist Markus Rogan and All-American Peter Marshall.
"Now that they graduated I have to step up and try to give the freshmen what those two guys gave to me last year, to swim fast and be a role model," Sun said.
One of the freshmen is Punahou grad Noa Sakamoto.
"It's kind of cool; we can talk about things from back home," Sun said. "But outside of that, it's not much different. We're a pretty close team."
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"All my friends think I'm slacking off," Sun said. "Well, my friends at Harvard think I'm slacking.
Stanford sophomore Hongzhe Sun has elected to take a light academic load this quarter to improve on his swimming.
Indeed, he's had better ones. In November, Sun was honored as swimmer of the meet at the UCI/Speedo Cup in Long Beach, Calif., after winning the 200 backstroke (1:43.44), 100 backstroke (47.72) and 200 IM (1:47.39).
