Team Player: Ruby Martin

Ruby Martin. Photo: UW Sports Information.

During the past fourteen years, Ruby Martin x’13 has evolved from swimming laps at the country club to setting pool records at national competitions and testing her skills among the best athletes in the world at the Olympic Trials. This dedicated Badger competes with a positive and competitive attitude.

Though she grew up in Madison, Martin never envisioned swimming for the UW. But she was at the pool open to close during the summer months, and she perfected her strokes on a club team at Madison’s East High School. Once she got to know the UW’s coaches and swimmers, she was ready to take the plunge.

Training for the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, and 100-yard backstroke — in addition to studying psychology and sociology — keeps Martin busy. She loves being an athlete at the UW, she says, noting that she feels supported both as a swimmer and as a student.

In a unique circumstance, Martin’s younger sister, Ivy x’15, swims right alongside her. “It’s crazy that we both swim at the level to be on this team,” she says. “We practice together every day and experience something a lot of people don’t.” Ruby and Ivy, a UW sophomore, were half the Badger foursome that made it to the finals in the 200-yard freestyle relay last year at the NCAA championships, an accomplishment they hope to repeat.

Martin believes she’s ready for the competition she faces this year. Under head coach Whitney Hite, the Badger women will swim against some of the best teams in the country. “In order to be the best, we have to go against the best,” Martin says. “Being a swimmer at the UW is both an honor and the best way to do what I love doing.”

Published in the Winter 2012 issue