Months before the 2014-15 swimming season had began, senior Tori  Nickerson was already looking ahead to the final month and a half of competition.

Before leaving Oregon in August for a semester to study in Norway, she met with Linfield coach Kyle  Kimball to his recommendations for staying in shape while traveling abroad. It was Nickerson's plan all along to return to Linfield at the end of December and join the team in January for the remaining meets.

“Coach Kimball was super supportive,” Nickerson says. “He told me to make the most of my time abroad and that there would be a spot waiting for me when I got back.”

Little did she know just how easy the dive back in the water would be.

“I was so nervous about staying in shape,” the Oak Harbor, Washington, native says. “I knew didn't want to die the first time I get back in the pool in Oregon.”

Her training pool, SiO Athletica Domus, was a 30-minute walk from her student house in the capital city of Oslo. Most weeks Nickerson tried to get in the water at least three times.

Fortunately, her hard work and dedication while in Norway paid off.

She made quite the splash during her first swim meet back against Lewis & Clark on Jan. 23. She won the 100-yard breaststroke - beating her closest competitor, Libby Bissen, by a half-second and had a lifetime best in the 100 butterfly (1:06.82).

“I really surprised myself. At first I thought ‘Is this real?'” Nickerson said. “I was convinced that I was going to die, but it turned out that I was in better shape than I thought. It was nice to come back that strong for my first meet.”

Her momentum carried over to the next day against Pacific. Nickerson won the 200 breaststroke (2:38.41) and placed third in the 200 individual medley (2:26.04).

Against Willamette on Jan. 31, Nickerson managed fourth in the 50 freestyle (26.97), third in the 100 butterfly (1:05.39) and spurring her 200 medley relay squad to second place and helping the Linfield women to a 112.5-92.5 victory over Willamette.

This weekend, Nickerson is competing in her final swimming event - the Northwest Cofnerence Championships in Corvallis, Ore.

Typically lasting five months, Nickerson's entire senior season was packed into six weeks. Not many athletes would be willingly to sacrifice three quarters of their season, but the opportunity to study in Norway was too great for Nickerson to pass up.

Because she is both Norwegian and Swedish, she enjoyed living in Norway and exploring her Scandinavian roots.

“I got mistaken all the time for being Norwegian,” she says. “I felt like I really blended in there.”

Nickerson studied International Public Health at the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences.

It turns out Nickerson is not the only Linfield swimmer to study and return midway through the season.

Senior A.J.  Wagoner studied abroad in San Ramon, Cosa Rica, during his fall semester and returned to competitions in January. In no time, Wagoner found himself swimming far better than he expected to in his races.

Senior Devin  Pritchard studied abroad in Ireland last spring and senior Ian  Coker spent a month studying literary biology in the Sea of Cortez.

Seniors Troy  Thomas and Alec  Greenway traveled to England and Belgium for a January Term trip, studying Mass Media in the European Union. They returned to the U.S. the night of Jan. 22 and swam the next morning against Lewis & Clark despite jet lag.