Competition propels Prolux

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Nicole Proulx swims during a meet at Gibb Pool last season.

In the sport of swimming, competition is everything — whether it’s in the pool or in the classroom. For senior swimmer Nicole Proulx, there is no such thing as being too competitive.

“She’s a good racer and she doesn’t like to get beat,” WSU women’s swimming head coach Tom Jager said.

Proulx, originally from Anaheim, California, began swimming lessons at a young age through the help of her father. Proulx didn’t begin competitive team swimming until she enrolled at Canyon High School, where she won league MVP four times during her high school swimming career.

“That’s when it clicked for me, and it came very naturally,” Proulx said. “Growing up I had never had a specific sport, so it was fun to discover something that I could work at and see myself improve so much.”

When Proulx joined the high school swimming team at Canyon High School, she made her mark early and often. As a freshman, she consistently finished ahead of the seniors on her team at the time and gained confidence through the process, she said.

Proulx was the first swimmer recruited by Jager when he accepted the head coaching job at WSU in 2011. When she first arrived to Pullman for a campus visit, she was uncertain about going to school in a ‘college town,’ but jumped at it the moment she was offered a scholarship by Jager and his coaching staff.

Proulx knew joining the WSU swimming team was a perfect fit from the very beginning, she said.

“I loved Tom and (assistant coach Adriana Quirke) as soon as I met them,” Proulx said. “They brought me in, and I was afraid about the Pullman weather at first, but I loved that they took a chance on me.”

Proulx enters her senior season as one of three seniors on this year’s team. Her leadership and ability to make her teammates better separates herself from the rest of the pack.

“Sometimes she takes the ‘edge’ off her teammates, and Nicole has the ability to calm everybody down when things get intense,” Jager said. “When she brings that to the table, the team responds in a positive way.”

Quirke noticed Proulx’s potential on the team right away when she arrived to WSU.

“She knows when we’re supposed to swim fast, and that’s when she swims fast,” Quirke said. “When we need her to step up at a dual meet or at the PAC-12 Championships, she always steps up.”

In preparation for her senior season, Proulx trained both in the pool and through a wide variety of weight exercises. Proulx’s personal goal this season is to break the WSU swimming record in the 100-meter freestyle event.

“I was very frustrated that I came so close last season to breaking the record,” Proulx said. “Going into summer, I pushed myself to be faster entering this season.”

Competitive swimming is one of the toughest and competitive sports on the planet, and Proulx believes that the sport comes with rewards as well as difficult times.

“When you see yourself getting better, and you see yourself getting stronger, there is no better reward,” Proulx said. “But the hardest thing about swimming is keeping your focus throughout the entire season.”

Proulx is one of the captains on this year’s WSU women’s swimming team, and is ready for her final season with the Cougars. With Proulx’s competitive spirit leading the way, the team is headed for success this season.