Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Saluki Swimmer Daniela Muniz to Attempt to Swim the Atlantic
03/14/2001 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
October 27, 2000
Carbondale, Ill. -
Southern Illinois University Carbondale swimmer Daniela 'Dani' Muniz will be participating in a relay swim across the Atlantic in May to bring attention to the sport of open water swimming to the world in general and the International Olympic Committee in particular in hopes of adding the sport as an Olympic event for the 2004 Athens Games.
"I'm crazy," Muniz said. "I started doing open water because we do a five kilometer race to start the season each year. I really enjoyed swimming in the lake and Rick (Walker) asked me after my first 5K race my freshman year if I could do 20 more kilometers. Then at the end of the year he talked to me about it and I decided to do it and that's how I got started and I enjoy doing it now."
Muniz is a senior swimmer on the Saluki women's swimming and diving team and participates in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly and the 200 and 400-yard individual medley events. She is the reigning Missouri Valley Conference champion for the 200-yard butterfly and a first-team All-Conference selection in that event as well as being honorable mention All-Conference in the 200 IM. She is an alternate member of the 2000 USA Open Water National team coached by Saluki men's coach Rick Walker.
Muniz had tried to make the National Open Water team twice before, but was not successful until this year. At the end of May Muniz and seven other current or former national team female swimmers will be trying to swim the width of the Atlantic Ocean from the east coast of the United States to England. The attempt will be a relay during which each swimmer will swim a two-hour leg with the entire swim taking about 60 days.
"Right now they are planning an unprotected swim and going around the clock non-stop," Walker said. "That doesn't mean they won't pull them as a precaution, but if they pull them they automatically mark them on a GPS and they can't start again unless they are on that mark. This is a relay to draw attention to open water swimming . I don't think it has ever been attempted, so it will be a first."
There is really no training regimen for marathon swimming per say since most of the athletes are in training for pool events. So most of the athletes will hit the lakes, rivers or ocean when possible or just swim longer distances around the pool to keep in marathon shape.
"I really don't train in open water since I'm in season right now," Muniz said. "When I go home to Miami over Christmas break I'll keep training in the pool because we still have the rest of the season to go. But in previous years I've gone home for spring break and I just train by going long distances in the pool. It is hard when I'm home to borrow someone's car to go to the beach and swim since my car is here."
The exciting part or the scary part of open water swimming, according to your perspective, is the encounters with objects or wildlife. The ocean especially has sharks, whales, other fish and many objects just floating near or beneath the surface in addition to vessels passing by.
"I don't want to know that there are fish and sharks out in the ocean looking at me," Muniz added. "It's kind of scary. This past year the 25K was at Daytona Beach and it is one of the most dangerous places to swim because of the sharks. I've never ran into any sharks though, but I've seen dolphins maybe 20 feet from me. I like seeing dolphins because if the dolphins are there the sharks are not and I'm safe."
The event is planned to take two months, so with eight girls making this cross-Atlantic attempt, there will be long stretches of down time for each of the girls with plenty of time to fill each day and night.
"Well, if it goes like its supposed to I'll be two hours in the water and 14 hours on the boat waiting for my next turn," Muniz continued. "I guess I'll spend my time getting a tan and being sea sick. I've never taken a long ocean cruise before and the only time I've been on a big boat was a two-hour cruise in Miami but there the ocean is flat."
There are unique circumstances to take into account when preparing for a long swim like this on especially across a large expanse of water like the Atlantic Ocean.
"Even though it is only two hours at a stretch you need to train for the ocean part of it," Muniz concluded. "The ocean has big swells and you have to prepare yourself for anything. You never know what's going to happen. Maybe I can get my teammates to throw buckets of water at me as I'm training in the pool here."
"It will be interesting to do and be able to say I've done something like that," Muniz summarized. "My mom says I'm crazy and over her dead body, but she'll pray for me and she'll be fine. I'm hoping someone from my family or Jeff (Goelz, Saluki women's swim coach) or Rick or someone gets to come along and be with me out on the ocean. It will be an interesting experience."
