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Seizing the moment

The state swim meet is filled with intense moments and immense pressure.

Fort Dodge senior Lehr Thorson is definitely ready to make the most of her final day in the pool as a prep athlete on Saturday. Win or lose, though, her performance will assuredly come with a smile.

”It’s important to stay loose and enjoy the moment above everything else,” said Thorson, who is seeded third in the 100-yard breastsroke and will also participate in all three Dodger relay qualifiers at Marshalltown this afternoon. ”You obviously want to do your best, but I can’t picture getting through a situation like that if you make a bigger deal out of it than it actually is.

”At the end of the day, you have to love doing it. I’ll do my best to remind (the FDSH freshmen) of that (at state), because I know they’ll be nervous and tense. The (accomplishments) will come if you have fun doing it.”

Thorson would know. This is her third consecutive season on the big stage, and Saturday will be a culmination of the Dodgers’ memorable rise to prominence on the backs of this particular senior class.

”We’ve come so far; it’s really great to look back and think about where we were four years ago compared to now,” said Thorson, who was also crowned the school’s Homecoming queen last month. ”But we want to do it again (at state) and really set the tone even more for Fort Dodge swimming into the future.”

Thorson’s regional time in the breaststroke was 1:05.35 – over three seconds better than her own record-breaking effort against West Des Moines Valley during the regular season (1:08.70). In addition to reaching state again as a member of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, Thorson also helped shatter FDSH’s 200 medley relay mark – previously established by her mother, Julie, and three of her teammates in 1990.

”I’ll admit that (event) had been on my radar since our freshman year, if not before that,” Thorson said of the 200 medley time. ”It’s not like it’s a direct competition with my mom or anything, but in the back of my mind, I thought we had the right group (of athletes) to do it.

”What’s incredible about that, and just swimming in general, is experiencing both the individual aspect of the sport and the team camaraderie, where we’re all pushing each other. It’s the best of both worlds; you have to be mentally tough internally, and at the same time, a good, supportive teammate (to others).”

Thorson’s lineage is deeply-rooted in athletic success. In addition to her mother’s accomplishments, her father, Tjeran, was an all-state football player for the Dodgers. Her grandfather, the late Sherwyn Thorson, is arguably the most iconic athlete in FDSH’s storied history, who went on to star for the University of Iowa wrestling and football programs. Her other grandpa, Sam Moser, was an all-state football player at West Lyon, a junior college All-American in Worthington (Minn.), and a Hall of Fame football coach for Fort Dodge.

Thorson would much rather climb her family tree than stand in its immense shadow.

”Is there some pressure that goes with (the name)? Sure,” Thorson admitted. ”But it also makes all of this more rewarding. I know I have younger cousins looking up to me, the way I have with my (older relatives).

”I also feel like I’m kind of creating my own path by going the swim route like my mom. I’m following in all of their footsteps, but in a little different way. At the end of the day, we all have that common bond of being Dodgers. I love that. I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to represent Fort Dodge in this way and help put (FDSH) swimming back on the map.”

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