MUN Write-up on Coach Dayna

Swimming Sensation Dayna Hogan (MUN News Aug 12 2010)

Engineering student Dayna Hogan juggles school work with pool work. She’s an engineering student but her dream isn’t to engineer their design. As Dayna Hogan stands next to the swimming pool at Memorial, it’s her passion for swimming that brings her here time after time. And as a third-year ocean and naval architectural engineering student, juggling her studies, swimming and a social life can mean long days, but Ms. Hogan clearly has it all under control.

“It can be challenging sometimes. If I’m away at a swimming competition, it can take days to catch up with my studies, but you get used to it. I use my time well and complete most of my assignments during the daytime,” she explained.

As part of the Memorial Sea-Hawks varsity swim team, Ms. Hogan travels regularly during each school year to compete in national and regional swim competitions. And, although there have been many competitions over the years, and many wins too, her very first swimming competition still puts a wide grin on her face.

“It was a regional competition in Corner Brook and I was in Grade 6. I remember that I went faster than one of the older swimmers. That was pretty exciting,” she recalled.

At age 11 she may have been swimming faster than some of the older swimmers but when she started swimming just two years earlier, she wasn’t exactly a natural in the water.

“I wasn’t very good at all and someone suggested to my parents that they should put me on a swim team because it would mean more one-on-one time with the coaches, so that’s what they did,” she chuckles.

And, apparently, it worked. She improved a lot through middle school and high school and even after coming to university. Ms. Hogan is training to qualify for nationals. She placed third in the 100 metre freestyle at the AUS championships and was named Subway Athlete of the Week last fall.

Ms. Hogan encourages other students to have a life outside of studies. “It’s really good to be well-rounded. Swimming takes up a lot of my time and it has taken over my life but it has taught me skills that I could have never learned in a classroom. It has also given me many opportunities to volunteer and meet new people in the community,” she said.

Once she finishes school, Ms. Hogan knows she’ll have to trade in her swim cap for a hard hat, but she still plans to spend as much time as she can at the pool by teaching younger swimmers.