Nicole Ebert freshman athlete of the winter

Not too many people would choose to leave the warmth of a Texas winter for the snow of… Not too many people would choose to leave the warmth of a Texas winter for the snow of Pittsburgh.

But that’s one reason why Pitt swimmer Nicole Ebert decided to come north.

“I wanted to be in the snow because I had never seen it before,” she said. “I came here for a visit and I liked it immediately; it was better than the other schools.”

And after setting five freshman records and two school records, the Pitt swimming and diving team likes Ebert just as much.

For her efforts, Ebert was selected as the Freshman Female Athlete of the Winter by The Pitt News sports section.

“I’m surprised,” she said. “I’m really shocked.”

Starting the season, Ebert was not quite sure just how different things would be from high school, but she found out soon enough.

“The way we train is a lot harder than in high school,” Ebert said. “[Swimming and diving head coach] Chuck [Knoles] is a good coach, he’s a lot different in a good way. He knows how to train distance well, which is what I do.”

The results came quickly for Ebert, who noticed that her season began to turn around after the Pittsburgh Invitational in December 2002.

“I started dropping my times, and it was the first time I dropped a significant amount of time in years,” she said. “That really encouraged me. Seeing the drop in time really inspired me to do better.”

From there, Ebert went on to achieve her goal of reaching the finals of the Big East Championships, which she admits was nothing like she expected it to be.

“It was exciting,” Ebert said. “I could never have imagined how big a meet [the Big East Championships] was. It was a cool atmosphere to be in and it was motivating to have my teammates cheering me on for every race.”

Ebert had quite a meet, saving her best performances for the end.

With a time of 4 minutes, 49.54 seconds, Ebert set a new school record in the 500-yard freestyle, breaking the one set by Sue Heon, who competed on the 1984 Olympic team. The time placed her fourth in the championships.

Ebert also set a school record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:01.38, finishing seventh in that event.

Her best finish of the meet came in the 1,650-yard freestyle, in which Ebert finished third with a time of 16:44.8, setting a record for a Pitt freshman.

Ebert also set freshman records in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.2 and in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:02.34.

Despite her performances, Ebert did not qualify for the NCAA Championships.

“I would have liked to make it to the NCAAs,” she admitted. “Overall, I’m happy with what I did. I had my best times and dropped a lot of times.”

With this season giving her a strong foundation to build on, Ebert has already set her goals for next season.

“I want to make the NCAAs in at least two events,” she said, “and win, or finish better than third, in at least two events.”

If she keeps improving, seeing Ebert in the NCAA Championships might be as expected as snow in Pittsburgh.