![\"Having](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/04\/GreciaGRuizActionEH-300x188.jpg\")
A competitive swimmer since age 8, Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz was a business management major at the Tecn\u00f3logico de Monterrey-Mexico City Campus, but a year ago, she sought a change of scenery. \u201cI was looking for adventures,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz said. \u201cI needed to change my life, know more people and go to some other places.\u201d<\/p>\n
She chose UWM because of the Lubar School of Business and because it was far from home. But also because of UWM\u2019s swimming pool, which allowed her to continue training.<\/p>\n
As an exchange student, she can\u2019t compete on UWM\u2019s NCAA swimming team. But those swimmers have welcomed her nonetheless, and she sometimes works out at the same time they do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like everything here. It\u2019s like a little city. If you need something, they are going to help you,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz said. \u201cPeople are so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has competed internationally and throughout the Americas, and the Olympics have been a longtime goal. \u201cI have the skills and the power, and something within me that is calling me to continue with my dreams,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz said. \u201cIt\u2019s my challenge to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are other challenges, too. She was scheduled to compete in Mexico\u2019s Olympic swimming trials in April. But the sport\u2019s international governing body, FINA, suspended the Mexican Swimming Federation after Mexico\u2019s withdrawal from host duties for the 2017 FINA World Championships. So the country cancelled its Olympic trials in late February.<\/p>\n
However, Mexican swimmers can still qualify for the team by posting fast enough times at sanctioned meets like the one this week in Yucat\u00e1n. She may also compete in upcoming U.S.-based Arena Pro Swim Series events, where qualifying times will also be honored.<\/p>\n
Her strongest event is the 200-meter butterfly, and her career-best time is 2:16.85. She\u2019ll have to shave nearly three seconds from that to meet the Olympic B qualifying time of 2:13.86. If she does, and it\u2019s the best time by a Mexican swimmer, she\u2019ll be off to Rio.<\/p>\n
Other swimmers, notably Diana Luna Sanchez, have posted better 200 butterfly times than Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz, but she\u2019s approaching the upcoming competitions with confidence and a positive attitude. And she\u2019ll continue competing regardless of the results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I am there [in Rio de Janeiro], it\u2019s because I can do it,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz said. \u201cIf I don\u2019t end up there, I enjoyed the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Grecia Gonz\u00e1lez Ruiz, an exchange student at UWM from Mexico, hopes to qualify for her home country’s Olympic swimming team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":31847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[122,124],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[162],"class_list":["post-31841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-campus-community","section-students","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-business"],"yoast_head":"\n