Returning to the South

During the school year Fayer lived in Pennsylvania, attending the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr. But during vacations and summers, she returned to Puerto Rico to do her heavy training under the club coach's direction. She swam a total of 13,000-14,000 yards in those "two-a-day" training sessions.

Fayer has continued these vacation work-outs in Puerto Rico, but she said Harvard's program has helped her because she can swim every day here. She added, "The continual swimming has helped to build up my endurance, the part of my swimming that is the weakest."

Fayer may be short in the endurance department, but she is certainly not lacking speed--she's a natural sprinter. Her "instinctive quickness" blossomed from the start. After swimming seriously for just six months, she said, she had beaten most of the people in Puerto Rico who had "been swimming for years."

But this created problems, she said, "because it didn't seem fair that I should just come along and win so consistently."

However, Fayer added that her quick success was largely a bad reflection on the Puerto Rican women's swimming program. She said, "Puerto Rico's program for women was quite poor, and as a result, many of the swimmers quit by the time they were 16. I came in at a time when many of the women were quitting."

Propitious

That propitious timing may have helped Fayer win recognition, but it certainly was not the only reason for her success. Her recently completed season here has proved she is extremely talented.

In dual meet competition, Fayer did not drop an individual event in the Yale contest. She also won a gold medal in the Eastern Championships with a time of 25.5 in the 50-yard freestyle.

But despite this success, Fayer said she is disappointed with her season because she failed to qualify for the Nationals. "Next year I will definitely make the Nationals," she declared. "With the new pool and fewer injuries, I should have faster times next season."

In addition to missing the Nationals, Fayer ran into one other problem this season--psych. She said, "I had difficulty getting psyched for all the little dual meets because I had never swum in so many small meets before."

Ides of March, Plus Ten

In Puerto Rico, a swimmer trains only for the infrequent big events such as the Olympic and Pan American trials. Consequently, Fayer said she did not have to push herself at home; she merely "did what had to be done in order to win." This helps explain her inability to gain qualifying times for the Nationals.

But fast times should not be a problem for Fayer when March 25, the opening day of the Latin Cup, rolls around. Competing against top swimmers from eight nations, Fayer will have to swim her hardest to place well.

Only her best will be enough to win. It's hard work, but who can complain about spending spring vacation in Rome?