Last year, Karissa Metzger wanted to come home from St. Peters with a state swimming medal. This year, she’s concerned about which medal she wins.
Metzger has her eyes on gold as she prepares for the final high school swim meet of her career, starting Thursday. She’ll compete in two events: the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke.
“I definitely feel a lot more pressure, but it’s mainly for myself, because I have really high expectations. I want the gold. I want to bring home the gold, so it’s just a higher pressure,” she said.
Metzger is seeded 13th going into the 200-yard IM, and she’s fifth in the breaststroke, the better of her two races. Metzger’s seed time is 1:07.66, within striking distance of top-seeded Audrey Lambert of Pembroke Hill, at 1:05.19.
“I feel a lot more confident this year. The water feels really good, so it’s going to be a good race,” she said.
The key for her performance at St. Peters, she said, is harnessing her emotions when she gets in the pool.
“I can’t be too nervous to where it wrecks my performance,” she said. “I have to use that as my adrenaline and push myself. It’s my senior year. I can’t go back from it, so I have to give it my all for the last time.”