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Harris Making a Splash at Iowa State
10.13.2010 | Swimming and Diving
AMES, Iowa - Iowa State head swimming and diving coach Duane Sorenson already expects sophomore Danielle Harris to be a leader. Harris was named the ISU Newcomer of the Year last season after tallying 10 wins and 24 top-three finishes.
Harris received recognition of that success recently as the ISU letterwinner's club honored several student-athletes whom lettered for the first time. Last season the design major became just the fourth Cyclone in history to finish the 200-meter back in less than two minutes.
“I guess you don't really realize the impact or the significance of [lettering] until you've done the work and you've really put in the time,” Harris said. “It just kind of brought everything together for me, swimming for this awesome team. I couldn't have made it through everything without my coaches and my teammates.”
Harris swims the back stroke, individual medley and breast stroke. During her freshman year she competed in the 800 free relay, the 200 individual medley, the 100 and 200-back as well as the 400 free relay. Harris' versatility plays a large role in her expectations as a Cyclone leader.
“We can swim her in so many different races because she's very versatile,” Sorenson said. “She's very much a leader by example in the pool during workouts and in our meets.”
Harris has been known to be a bit of an over worker and was actually told to slow down in certain situations in practices. She tends to push herself to extreme limits in practice because of her desire to win.
“She's gotten her success because of her hard work and she thinks if she works harder that will make her faster and sometimes she's got to slow it down to a little more technique work and not over train herself,” Sorenson said.
Working every day to be faster, better and stronger than her opponent, Harris' competitiveness is the driving force behind her success. Last season Harris needed that work ethic after having arthroscopic knee surgery, she faced the challenge of swimming on a bad knee for the second half of the season. While Harris was suffering from a knee injury, however, she had a chance to work on her upper body strength after being heavily reliant on her kick in the past.
“Dani is just a tremendous competitor and she's a hard worker,” Sorenson said. “She'll just go through a brick wall to race and compete against somebody but then she'll push herself at an extreme level every day in practice.”
From day one the pool has been like home to Harris. When her parents first put her in swimming lessons as a child, the instructor moved her up to level three on the first day.
“I've always been in the water,” Harris said. “I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to swim.”
Not only did Harris' family members lead her to the pool, they also led her to Iowa State. The Clive, Iowa native is the fourth generation in her family to become a Cyclone and she attributes her success to her parents' inspiration.
“They've always been parents that are for focusing one sport,” Harris said. “You just do one sport and focus all you can on that sport. They're really encouraging and they definitely boost me up and keep me going when things get hard.”
Just as Harris' parents led her to swimming and to Iowa State, Harris will now lead her Cyclone teammates in and out of the pool.
Harris received recognition of that success recently as the ISU letterwinner's club honored several student-athletes whom lettered for the first time. Last season the design major became just the fourth Cyclone in history to finish the 200-meter back in less than two minutes.
“I guess you don't really realize the impact or the significance of [lettering] until you've done the work and you've really put in the time,” Harris said. “It just kind of brought everything together for me, swimming for this awesome team. I couldn't have made it through everything without my coaches and my teammates.”
Harris swims the back stroke, individual medley and breast stroke. During her freshman year she competed in the 800 free relay, the 200 individual medley, the 100 and 200-back as well as the 400 free relay. Harris' versatility plays a large role in her expectations as a Cyclone leader.
“We can swim her in so many different races because she's very versatile,” Sorenson said. “She's very much a leader by example in the pool during workouts and in our meets.”
Harris has been known to be a bit of an over worker and was actually told to slow down in certain situations in practices. She tends to push herself to extreme limits in practice because of her desire to win.
“She's gotten her success because of her hard work and she thinks if she works harder that will make her faster and sometimes she's got to slow it down to a little more technique work and not over train herself,” Sorenson said.
Working every day to be faster, better and stronger than her opponent, Harris' competitiveness is the driving force behind her success. Last season Harris needed that work ethic after having arthroscopic knee surgery, she faced the challenge of swimming on a bad knee for the second half of the season. While Harris was suffering from a knee injury, however, she had a chance to work on her upper body strength after being heavily reliant on her kick in the past.
“Dani is just a tremendous competitor and she's a hard worker,” Sorenson said. “She'll just go through a brick wall to race and compete against somebody but then she'll push herself at an extreme level every day in practice.”
From day one the pool has been like home to Harris. When her parents first put her in swimming lessons as a child, the instructor moved her up to level three on the first day.
“I've always been in the water,” Harris said. “I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to swim.”
Not only did Harris' family members lead her to the pool, they also led her to Iowa State. The Clive, Iowa native is the fourth generation in her family to become a Cyclone and she attributes her success to her parents' inspiration.
“They've always been parents that are for focusing one sport,” Harris said. “You just do one sport and focus all you can on that sport. They're really encouraging and they definitely boost me up and keep me going when things get hard.”
Just as Harris' parents led her to swimming and to Iowa State, Harris will now lead her Cyclone teammates in and out of the pool.
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