DiPrimio: Comfortable with Uncomfortable – Peplowski Primed for More NCAA Success
3/20/2024 10:18:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Mention Anna Peplowski to Ray Looze and Indiana's swim coach's thoughts quickly go to baby giraffes.
Of course they do.
"We have a recruiting term," he says. "We call swimmers like her baby giraffes. It's like, oh boy, we want a baby giraffe, because it will learn to walk and run and become really coordinated and awesome.
"That's what Anna is developing into. She's very tall. She has a wonderful personality and has a good time. She doesn't take things too seriously."
The junior is already an eight-time All-American with seven Big Ten titles and eight conference runner-up finishes on her resume, plus 2023 Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships honors. She was the Hoosiers' top point producer during their recent conference meet championship.
There's one other attribute, which ties into the baby giraffe analogy.
"She's raw," Looze adds.
Turning raw to refined remains a work in progress. Peplowski is set to add to her NCAA accomplishments during this week's NCAA meet at the University of Georgia. Her full schedule has her competing in the 100-yard, 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races, plus relays.
Add all the prelims and it's a heavy load, but "nothing we aren't prepared to do," she says.
"We train every day for those moments, for racing while being tired," she says. "In practice, we do back-to-back events with no warm down, so we're prepared. The coaches do a good job of preparing us for doubles or even a triple – two events and then a relay."
Peplowski displayed that preparation while playing a lead role in last month's dramatic Big Ten meet comeback, partly for what she did well, partly for what she could improve on, totally in how she responded.
A disappointing second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle followed by a relay disqualification rocked her confidence.
"She had a moment that was total devastation," Looze says. "She lost the 500 free, which is a new event for her, because she played into the other girl's hands. Then she jumped the relay. Afterward, she said, 'I don't know how I can move forward after this.'"
After 30 years of coaching, including multiple Big Ten and NCAA title winners, Looze knew. Peplowski's enormous ability sometimes clashes with doubt in pressure moments. Looze says it can make her conservative.
"We have to get her comfortable with the uncomfortable. I told her, this is sink or swim. Either you get yourself together and use this to make yourself more mentally durable, or you don't, and it takes longer."
Peplowski refused to wait.
"It was hard to turn around from that," she says. "A lot of emotions were going on with the team and myself. Ray told me, you can dwell on this tonight, but come tomorrow, you need to pretend that nothing happened. We still have so much meet left and opportunity left. We can't dwell on it. The only way to move forward is to move past it.
"I took that personally. We came back swinging and had one of our best sessions. The meet went up from there. Team energy and morale were at all-time highs."
Peplowski came back to win the 200-yard freestyle. She also was part of the winning 200 and 800 freestyle relay teams, took second in the 100 freestyle, and helped deliver the team-title winning 400 relay performance – IU placed second behind Michigan and just ahead of third-place Ohio State, which gave the Hoosiers the team championship by half a point over the Buckeyes.
"She told me, 'I forced myself to move on,'" Looze says. "I loved hearing that. She did that. We didn't so it for her. She did it."
The opportunity to do that is among the reasons why Peplowski chose swimming over other sports while growing up.
"The awesome thing about swimming is that it's an individual sport, but it's also just as much a team sport," she says. "You can have that balance of both. I loved the individuality of swimming and the team side. I can do things for myself and things greater than myself. That's the beautiful thing about swimming."
IU's team emphasis helped make Peplowski a Hoosier, as it did for sister Noelle, an 11-time All-American swimmer for the Hoosiers who is now an Indiana assistant coach.
"The coaches put such an emphasis on team culture, team values and the coach-swimmer connection," Anna Peplowski says. "Coaches care so much about preparing you for what's after college, not just treating you as a swimmer or for stats or what you're going to do on this relay. They care more about how you are as a person and how you perform as a person, how you perform in life.
"That was so special to me. I think about the future a lot. What's to come? What's next?"
What is next?
Peplowski's major is in sports marketing and management. She might want to eventually get into sales or work for a pro team to "stay within a team and sports culture."
"I've been around it my whole life. I love all the opportunities that arise around sports."
That's for later. Swimming remains a top priority, and prospects are promising. Peplowski aspires to earn an Olympic team spot for this summer's Paris Games. U.S. Olympic Trials are in June at Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium.
"Anything goes," she says. "I've been putting my head down training. We'll see what happens this summer. It should be good."
Looze couldn't agree more.
"She's a rising star," he says. "Whatever happens, I'll be happy for her. Good-bad-indifferent, I'm ready for all the emotions."Players Mentioned
