Team Spirit
Mar 17, 2024 | Women's Swimming and Diving
“I feel like the most rewarding one was the relay because I got to do it with my teammates.”
The answer from Miranda Grana when asked which of the four bronze medals she won at her first SEC Swimming & Diving Championships was the most rewarding was predictable to anyone who knows her. The Guadalajara, Mexico, native had a void filled when she arrived in Aggieland.
“She is all-in on this team,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. “She’s a hugger, for sure. She’s goofy like them. We’ve got some girls that have a really good work ethic and she’s really picked up on that. And it works both ways. When we bring the watch out, Miranda is pretty good, so she’s helped bring them along and pushed them, too. She’s fully embraced the team aspect of swimming at Texas A&M.”
Grana opened the meet with a third-place showing in the 100 fly, a strong effort in an event in which she lacked a wealth of experience. A switch from the 200 IM to the 100 fly for the experienced backstroker didn’t leave her much time for game planning.
“They said, ‘Miranda you have to go fast,’” Grana said. “’Then they said, ‘But you have to make it back.’ I didn’t know if I’d make it back. In the prelims I was kind of scared, but I just swam. Apparently, my time was really good because I made A final.”
She headed into the finals not anticipating much. Her 100 fly work in competitions was limited to just a couple meets and her only training in the fly was during occasional Tuesday workouts. But she took the advice, she went fast, and she made it back.
“I touched the wall, I looked up and I tried finding my time,” Grana said. “I looked and saw I was third. I looked over and everyone’s freaking out. It was such a great feeling.”
The psychology of the ice breaking success in the 100 fly worked both ways. The pressure was off her to perform well as she already earned hardware, but now she would be competing in her main events for which she spent months training.
“No one was expecting anything from me in the fly,” Grana said. “But I’m a backstroker, so the expectations were ever greater because of how good I had already done.”
She did not wilt under the pressure, claiming the bronze in both the 100 back with a school record time of 50.65 and the 200 back with the second-fastest time in program history at 1:51.06.
Grana’s final medal came on the opening leg of the 400 medley relay as she was joined by Bobbi Kennett, Olivia Theall and Chloe Stepanek – clocking in at 3:28.61, the third-fastest time in program history.
“Everyone was just so happy,” Grana said. “We all had been pushing ourselves and had been so tired. It was so rewarding. Bobbi just started crying and then Liv started crying and I was like ‘This is so emotional.’”
When the curtain closed on the SEC Championships, Grana made one of the biggest splashes for the Aggies, helping them to a third-place team finish with her four medals.
“Her performance was invaluable,” Bultman said. “Obviously on the medley relays, her leadoff was huge. Coming into the year, we were sparse in the back, so she came up big in the 100 and 200. The medal in the fly was kind of neat. We didn’t know what her third event was going to be. With her underwaters, we were thinking fly. So I kind of said, ‘Let’s put her in the fly.’ It turned out to be a pretty good choice.”
For Grana, the medal haul was just a continuation of the improvements she has made since arriving in Aggieland. The mental tweaks have been just as important as the physical adjustments.
“My confidence has been my biggest improvement,” Grana said. “Steve is a really, really good coach and I think it really showed off in my races at SECs. In the past I would get to meets feeling so unconfident and scared that everyone else was doing something better than me. But here I know I’m prepared, and it showed in the results.”
Aggieland helped Grana find something that was missing from her swimming life. She was lacking a team, a figurative family and an invaluable support network.
How about another one??
— Texas A&M Swimming & Diving (@AggieSwimDive) February 25, 2024
Miranda Grana earns her 3rd individual bronze medal of SECs with a 1:51.06 in the 200 back, the second-fastest time in school history????#GigEm pic.twitter.com/mrokKvYuUY
There was no shortage of success in her amateur career. She was earning medals swimming at the Pan American Games and the Central American & Caribbean Games in 2023. And she landed spots in the World Aquatics Championships in December 2022. But her time was not offering up the homey feeling she was yearning.
“When I was at the Pan Am Games there’s like just a few of us there and we’re all so focused on ourselves,” Grana said. “So we’re not cheering for others. The main goal for many is not succeeding as Mexico, but succeeding as an individual. Here, you’re racing for your team, your coach, for everyone else and they are racing for you.”
While the Olympics will always be the pinnacle, for the Aggie freshman nothing can eclipse what she experiences meet in and meet out swimming in the Maroon & White.
“Here there is this whole group of 40 girls cheering for me,” Grana said. “That adds up and it’s just so incredible. I would never have imagined myself at an early age thinking that I would be part of a team that supports you when you do good, supports you when you do bad. As soon as you reach the wall, everyone’s running to get you and hug you and congratulate you. That’s something so amazing for me.”
Texas A&M not only provides her a whole squad as a support group, but it also offers a circle of really good swimmers from Mexico who continue to train in Aggieland. The group includes Maximiliano Vega Cuevas, Angel Martinez and Andres Puente among others.
“Without them here, I don’t think I would have been recruited,” Grana said. “Having them here is pretty comforting. They are always willing to help me out if I need anything.”
Martinez was one of the main catalysts in connecting Grana with Texas A&M. He helped put Bultman and associate Caroline Maxvill Stanek on her trail.
“We have had a number of Mexican swimmers here, both female and male,” Bultman said. “So we kind of have our eye down there and we knew who she was. But Angel said really good things about. He really talked about how hard she worked and how she really loved being coached.”
As is often the start of swimming careers, it all started with a run-of-the-mill safety class. A survival class so she would not drown at the beach led to joining a swim team in elementary school. Luckily for Grana, a string of competent coaches guided her along the way as she found steady improvement.
Grana never ventured much into other sports. She had a short stint playing volleyball, but it was not her cup of tea. The rough-and-tumble nature of the sport left her getting injured.
“I told them I would rather do swimming,” Grana said. “I wasn’t getting hurt doing that. And the injuries in volleyball were bad for my swimming.”
From that time on it was pretty much all swimming all the time. She earned a spot in her first Mexico national meet at age 11. At the time she was a breaststroker, but her club coach decided to enter her in the 100 back. Never overwhelmed by the new challenge, she proved to be more than capable in her new discipline. She qualified for nationals and after just a month of training she finished third in the 100 back.
Grana continued to improve and made great strides in the pool despite the constant need to find worthwhile instruction. At age 14, that took her to Arizona for a summer. Having not qualified for the Pan American Games in 2019 she went to train at the Scottsdale Aquatic Club whose list of pupils included current Aggie teammate Blakely Schuricht. It was during that summer where the thought of moving to the U.S. for the long-term to pursue her swimming career first entered her mind.
“My dad said ‘No. You’re too young. You’re 14. You have to come back and whenever you turn 15, I will think about sending you back,’” Grana said.
She turned 15, but as fate would have it the Covid pandemic hit, and Grana found her dreams paused and her training stagnated. Just as she was beginning to find her footing and seeing the fruits of her labors, her training was halted for the most part and even the training she was able to do was spotty at best. Thoughts of giving up popped up.
“I thought about quitting,” Grana said. “What training I was doing didn’t seem to be paying off. And I didn’t enjoy what I was doing. It’s hard to be excited when you’re working really hard, but it doesn’t seem to be paying off.”
Fortuitously for both Grana and the Aggies, she gave it one last shot. She found a coach Thomas Gonzalez in Mexico who helped her snap out of her funk. He helped her find her way and it started to show in her results. She began improving in both her short course and long course performances, eventually finding her way into premier events including the World Aquatics Championships, Central American Games and Pan American Games.
Grana’s next exploits are slated for the NCAA Championships March 20-23 in Athens, Georgia. She will once again compete in the 100 back, 200 back and 100 fly. She enters the event with a simple game plan.
“My goals are always to have fun, enjoy the meet and show everyone how good we train at A&M.”
And at Gabrielsen Natatorium, Grana will revel in the cheering from her 13 teammates and their celebratory hugs after each energy-draining event. She found her place in Aggieland.
