Timeout swimming: Zendejas’ extra effort has paid off in the pool

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Highland sophomore Jessi Zendejas works out Monday afternoon at Highland High School. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 17, 2012 8:14AM

HIGHLAND — The wake-up call had been coming — the boiling point at which Highland’s Jessi Zendejas would be pushed to strive for more.

On paper it all looked promising. As a freshman last winter, Zendejas came in and quickly won team MVP honors. Many times she won at duals. And in a retooling program, these feats stood out.

Behind the scenes, however, Trojans coach Ryan Harrington had some different views about everything. Harrington saw the achievements, but also noticed that his swimmer wasn’t pushing to her full potential.  

“Her and I had some pretty long, lengthy discussions,” Harrington said.

The biggest of those talks came during last season’s meet against LaPorte. At the mid-point of the year, during a chance to gain some ground, the Trojans lost. And during the dual, Harrington noticed a lackluster performance out of Zendejas.

“It was at that moment, that I think everything clicked,” Harrington said.

What began to resonate was a growing passion. Zendejas didn’t exactly have the conventional beginning, compared with many throughout the area. While girls typically take to the waters of age group competition early in elementary school, Zendejas was prompted by her mother to go out for the Highland Hurricanes when she was around 10.

“I felt like quitting, too, my first year,” she said with a smile. “(And then in high school, you’re) not used to it. It’s totally different.”

But moving beyond a pedestrian start, Zendejas made some changes. Instead of coming out and being a one-sport athlete this year, she took the advice from her coaches and strengthened up her core and stamina along with adding cross country and track to the docket.

“I think she believed in herself,” said Highland assistant and newly named Hurricanes coach Nick Castillo, who felt like he saw a 100 percent from her with the Hurricanes.

While still a force on the team, Zendejas’ results are even more compelling. For instance, in the 500 free, last year she topped out at 5:55. Now she’s swimming a personal-best 5:53 before the taper period. And in her new event this season, the 200 free, she has a best time of 2:10.2.

“It’s been interesting, her transformation from this year to last year because of those other sports,” Harrington said. “She was really working hard, so she came in as a different kid, different mentality.”

And though the Trojans are still rebuilding, the extra effort has spurred a few key turnarounds.

Zendejas feels more whole as a competitor and has high team expectations for this weekend’s NCC conference meet.

“The team now has more heart to win and they just can’t wait for conference (where they finished third last year) and sectional to do it again,” she said.