Despite injuring her toe during a water polo game two weeks ago, Ohio swimmer Becky McGaughey is training hard for next season, her last as a Bobcat.

"A goal got pushed over my foot and took my toe back with it," McGaughey said.

She was in bed for three days and just started walking on it, but was back in the pool for the first time Tuesday.

Prior to the injury, McGaughey had a successful showing this winter, winning seven individual events during the regular season. At the Mid-American Conference Championships, she won the 200 freestyle (1:50.85) and was sixth in the 100-freestyle (52.20). Both were career-best times for her. She was also a member of the winning 400-and 800-freestyle relays.

McGaughey, a First Team All-MAC selection, posted the fastest 200-freestyle time on the team this year.

Surprisingly, McGaughey was not always a swimmer. She participated in other sports when she was younger and did not pick up swimming until her freshman year of high school.

"I started kind of late for a swimmer," she said. "A lot of swimmers start when they are 8."

She joined a team because her friends were swimming and, luckily for Ohio, kept with the sport.

"It started taking up a lot of time because we had practice every day, and I just had to drop my other activities," she said.

Freestyle has not always been her best stroke.

"I started out as a backstroker, but it is funny because it is my worst stroke now," she said.

As McGaughey gets back into training for next year, she would still like to improve on her freestyle performances.

"I had a really great year, and I was really excited, but I don't think that I have reached my potential and so that makes me really excited about next season to see what I can do," McGaughey said. "It's my senior year, and I am really hoping to put everything into my practices and get the most out of it and try to end on a really good note."

As a co-captain next year, she has goals for the team in and out of the pool. With many new swimmers next year, it will be hard to build team unity and work as a team, she said.

"That will be my biggest goal and challenge," McGaughey said. "Jessica [Waites], the other captain, and I have already talked about things to do to start competing and working as a team."

Coach Greg Werner also has confidence in McGaughey's leadership and swimming abilities for next year.

"She will bring a lot of what she has brought to the team to this point, and she will have added confidence and lead the team in and out of the pool," he said.

Waites said the Bobcats can count on McGaughey to score key points, which helps encourage the rest of the team. She added that McGaughey's work ethic in practice provides a good example for younger swimmers.

"She is a great team leader," Waites said. "She trains hard and motivates the other swimmers."

In three years as an Ohio swimmer, McGaughey has gone from an 11th-place finish in the 200 freestyle at MACs her first year to a 10th-place finish in the 2002-2003 season. This past season, she dropped three seconds to earn her first individual MAC title.

"I am very happy with the progress she has made and the maturity she has shown as a person, as a student and as an athlete, and expect her best results next year," Werner said.

(C) 2004 The Post via U-WIRE.