By: Matt Florjancic, ‘07
BEREA, Ohio – Mallory Dondorfer knows what it feels like to stand at the top of the podium at the Ohio Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships.
Having won OAC Championships in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard backstroke events as a first-year competitor in 2022, and then, being shut out from one in 2023, Dondorfer is hungry to reclaim her title-winning form.
“I would like to win an event. I’m not going to be picky about it,” Dondorfer said of her goal for this year’s OAC Championships, which take place at The University of Akron’s Ocasek Natatorium February 14-17. “I would just like to win an event at OACs, and I also have the goal of breaking the 400 IM record, so hopefully, I can do that.
“I think it’s three-and-a-half seconds off of my time from OACs last year. In the 400 IM, in my head, it’s doable because it’s a second a 100, which in the long run, I should be able to do it. I just need to mentally prepare myself.”
First Impression
Dondorfer’s introduction to the OAC Championships was a great way to start off her career at Baldwin Wallace, considering the Mentor Cardinals star was set on going down to Florida for college.
Despite initially wanting to leave behind the cold weather, Dondorfer has settled in nicely.
“There were a couple of schools in Florida that I wanted to swim at,” Dondorfer said. “I just have a lot of family down there, and I was set on it since freshman year of high school. I didn’t look at BW until March of my senior year. I visited and just loved the coaching staff and the team culture, so I just didn’t even think about Florida again and I just signed here.
“Florida-Gulf Coast was where I wanted to go to, but I wasn’t sure if I wasn’t going to swim there. The school that I was going to swim at was Lynn University. It’s really, really small in Boca Raton, and I don’t know, I like this so much better, and we go to Florida for our training trip, so it was like a win-win.
“I’m happy. I also really like my parents and all my family being able to come and watch.”
More than a Team
Family is important to Dondorfer, and in joining the Baldwin Wallace program, she found a second family, so to speak, at the pool.
She credits the culture built by Coach Laura Demaline as a contributing factor to her success at the collegiate level. Dondorfer counts herself fortunate because that support from teammates happens not only in meets, but also, in training.
“I think everyone shows that in a different way, but this morning it happened,” Dondorfer said after a recent practice. “It was a really tough set, and we’re broken into stroke groups, so I was with the IMers.
“I was like, ‘Okay, everyone is dying, but we’re experiencing it together,’ and one of the kids in front of me just gave me a high-five in the middle of the set, and I was like, ‘That’s nice.’ It helped me. No matter how small it was, it was just that he feels like this, too. I’m not the only one.”
Mental Preparation
That positive encouragement is part of the puzzle for Dondorfer when it comes to her mental preparation.
Throughout her BW career, Dondorfer been intentional about preparing for her meets not just by training, but also, by learning to find comfort in uncomfortable situations.
“I know that everything that we do physically prepares us to go the times we want to go,” Dondorfer said. “Everything that the coaches do for us in the sets they give is perfect. I think the mental part is where a lot of us, me especially, need work on, so what I’ve been trying to do is focusing on the good things of practice each day, which helps me not get in this rut of, ‘Oh, I’m having a bad week.’
“No matter what, I try to focus on the little things, and before meets, I listen to the same song every time. It’s called ‘Sweet, but Psycho.’ It’s a really good one. Everyone on the team is really annoyed of it by now because I’ve been playing the same one since my freshman year. It has a scream at the beginning of it. It used to be my alarm clock
“When I came in, I would try to just get into the zone before every race. I think that doesn’t help me as much. I need to be not thinking about it and not as nervous, so I try to make jokes with people, and then, a couple events before, I put my headphones in and listen to ‘Sweet, but Psycho.’
Heavy Workload
Dondorfer has put an emphasis on her mental preparation leading up to her events as a way of helping herself find balance with a busy schedule on meet days.
Over her first two years at BW, Dondorfer swam four different disciplines (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and individual medley), and did so at the 50-, 100- and 200-yard lengths. She added the 400-yard IM during her sophomore season.
This year, Dondorfer has added the 1,000-yard freestyle to her repertoire and is the lead swimmer on multiple relays.
“I think it’s honestly harder mentally to train different events than it is physically because I have to be okay with training longer events, some sprinting events, and then, some middle-distance events,” Dondorfer said. “I think it’s helped me overall.
“I think what’s helped me a lot is trying to make it more fun, and I think it is more fun for me not training the same thing all the time. When I have a practice that I do IM, it’s entertaining. When I have a practice that I’m just practicing on longer distance freestyle, it’s something new to focus on, so I think that’s what helps me.
“I did backstroke my freshman and sophomore year, and then, I switched to fly this year. If I did fly for every single practice, for every single set, my shoulders would be not okay. I’m glad that I do fly, but then, I also do all the other strokes with IM training. I think it’s helped a lot not overdoing your muscles.”
Setting the Standard
Dondorfer is most fond of competing in the IM event, particularly at the 200-yard length.
Dondorfer likes the back-and-forth nature of the race, as if someone is really strong in the backstroke, she can make up time in the butterfly.
Results aside, coach Laura Demaline believes Dondorfer’s greatest strengths are her leadership by example and willingness to step in and do what is necessary to help the team be successful.
“She is very process-focused, does the right things outside of the pool to help herself in the pool, too,” Demaline said. “When she speaks, people listen because of her success and her talent, but she leads by example every single day. There’s never a day that you have to wonder if she’s giving you everything she has.
“She wants to win. She wants our team to win. She helps with recruiting. She tries to do everything she can to help the team be better. She is very selfless when it comes to her leadership. Mason, Mallory, they are leading by example, and that’s something that I think has helped them be such tremendous leaders on the team. They do the right stuff all the time, so when they tell others to do it, they can back it up. Obviously, Mallory’s pretty talented, too, so that helps.”
Standout Student-Athlete
The standard Dondorfer helps set for her teammates does not stop after the meets and practices are done.
Along with her successes in the pool, Dondorfer has found success in the classroom, too.
Originally an exercise science major, Dondorfer switched to early-childhood education and has earned Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors.
“I loved exercise science, but I’m really happy I switched,” Dondorfer said. “I think my two or three past placements have been awesome, and I’ve learned so much from all my teachers. Maybe it’s just because I didn’t come in as education, but I didn’t know how much opportunity we would have in the field before I got here.
“Last semester, I had 40 hours in the field, and I loved the kids, loved the teachers. This semester, I have 60 hours in the field, and I think it’s really helpful because I’ve been in a pre-K class and a first grade, and this semester, I’m going to be in second grade, so I’m getting a really good variety of grade. I don’t know exactly what grade I want to teach you, and I think this helps me a lot.”
Finding a Balance
Despite carrying a heavy workload as a student and an athlete, Dondorfer believes it has helped her focus and be more productive.
She consults often with her mother, Alyson, who chose not to pursue college athletes, and later, regretted that her time-management skills suffered as a result. Dondorfer took that lesson to heart and is fulfilling her goals in and out of competition.
“I’m really grateful that I did because don’t think I would just come home from class and be like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to do my homework until later,’ and then, never get it done,” Dondorfer said.
“I have a strict schedule. I do two hours of homework after class, before practice, and then, a little bit after. Then, I eat and just relax, and I think it puts me into a really good routine. I know that we’re going to be gone all day on Saturdays for meets, so Sunday is my homework day. It honestly helps me a lot, and I would not be as organized as I was if I didn’t have swimming.”
Seeing Success Again
After developing her routines in the pool and the classroom, Dondorfer is focused on finishing strong in her junior year.
Dondorfer won the OAC Championship in the 200-yard backstroke in a career-best time of 2:09.13. In doing so, she cut 1.5 seconds off of her time from the preliminary round to the finals, and the win gave the Yellow Jackets 20 points toward their team total.
Also, she won the 200-yard individual medley in a career-best time of 2:11.29, which was a 1.28-second improvement from the preliminary round to the finals.
This season, Dondorfer is only one second off her career-best time in the 200 IM, and she is looking to lower that number at this year’s meet. After one second and two third-place finishes in the 2023 OAC Championships, she is motivated to get back to the top of the podium.
“That happened my freshman year, and I will never forget it,” Dondorfer said. “Sometimes, when I’m getting not burnt out, but kind of upset with my training, I’ll just go back and look at those videos, and it helps me a lot.
“I don’t think I was expecting it freshman year, so I think as a feeling, I hopefully will experience again soon. Freshman year, it was really awesome, and I love watching the videos of it because where my parents were, they took a video of it and the whole entire team is just lined down the pool and I just love watching it. They were all supportive, and that’s what we do for everybody else, too. I think that was the best part, just being able to experience it with a team.”