"She's the one ahead of everybody"

By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com

I really wasn’t trying to be a jerk, but “she’s the one ahead of everybody” was my response to a fan’s question of who is Samantha Woodward at the state swimming championships? I thought the answer sufficed. It was short, precise and accurate.

This weekend was the first time I had the honor to watch Woodward swim. The two biggest things I noticed.

1) She doesn’t take herself too seriously. She doesn’t believe her own hype and she doesn’t carry herself as someone who is eons better than everyone else in the pool.

2) All her competitors have accepted second but hold no grudge at all toward her. In Friday’s Oklahoman, I wrote a short piece about how some of the other top names in the state view Woodward. I was looking for something juicy, something Rory Sabbatini-like about Tiger Woods. Nothing, not one negative word.

After watching her crush the competition again and the way she interacts with everyone afterward, it’s easy to see why there’s no ill-will.

She set three records on Saturday, but the best display of her prowess was the very first event, the 200 IM relay. Because as the butterfly swimmer, the third leg, the lead for Edmond Memorial was not much. But after her swim, I had already penciled the Lady Bulldogs in as the winners.