In Nicole Mackey's new life, which begins Sunday, she envisions surfing, sleeping, surfing, graduating, surfing, avoiding pools, surfing ... you get the idea. But today, tomorrow and Saturday, it is all about the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship at Minnesota's University Aquatic Center.

The University of Hawai'i senior, a two-time All-American, was fourth in the 100 backstroke and 15th in the 200 backstroke at last year's nationals. She just captured her third Western Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Year honor. This could be the last swim meet of her life.

There will be no regrets.

"I'm so excited to be done," Mackey said by phone from Minneapolis, where she has been "acclimating" since Monday. "I've been doing this, waking up every morning at 5:30 every day, since I was 11 years old. This will be the first time in my life I won't have some sort of practice. It's going to be great."

She came to Hawai'i, from Newport Beach, Calif., to be close to her other passion — surfing. Beyond getting her sociology degree in a year, all she wants to do after Saturday is "surf and travel." UH coach Victor Wales, who has surfed with her, believes she will next surface in pro surfing.

But for now, all he and Mackey are focusing on are the morning heats of her three events — today's 200 individual medley, tomorrow's 100 backstroke and Saturday's 200 backstroke.

The difference in this meet and every other in college is the sheer speed of absolutely every swimmer. There are no freebies in the morning, with the top eight advancing to finals and the next eight to consolation finals. A year ago, Mackey had to beat her best time by two seconds to come back.

"At other meets I just have to show to make it back," said Mackey, who got into the 2003 World University Games. "Then I give it all I've got at night."

That won't be enough the next three days, even for Mackey, a world-class swimmer with the talent to make the final eight (All-America status) in every event, according to Wales.

That is only if she is aggressive enough to get out of her heat. "It's just a matter of whether she takes her ability and does it," Wales said. "She has the tools physically. Mentally, she really believes she can be that successful. Now it's just getting in there."

And relaxing. Mackey finds herself exceptionally calm the final days of her collegiate career. It is very different from her first three NCAA appearances.

Her mind is clear in the pool, where all she focuses on is technique and strategy — turns, arm speed, number of kicks off the wall, motivation through the painful stage sure to come. Her proficiency at underwater dolphin kicks is often what sets her apart, but the energy expended leads to numbness and lungs screaming for air the final lap.

Wales expects her to get through that, and those astonishingly fast morning heats. The second-year coach has a unique relationship with his best swimmer, who performs better when left virtually on her own.

"For a long time coaches recognized Nicole had a lot of talent," Wales said. "They tried to get her to utilize that talent by doing things that worked for them in the past. We've let Nicole find her own path to success.

"She still trains with us, but we're not telling her how to be successful. Nicole is one of those individuals who really likes to do things on her terms. We let her do it, but in the scope of what's best for our program and she's bought into that."

Mackey is one of nine seniors on the Rainbow Wahine roster. Three others — Bache' Atkins, Claudia Barsi and Mia Broden — had sensational seasons, but missed out on the NCAAs by fractions of a second.

"That was disappointing," Wales said. "Three girls who put a lot of time and energy into the sport their entire life and barely missed out. They are the 34th-fastest in the U.S. and they only take 32. That's tough."

Mackey is also the only WAC swimmer here, but UH does have divers Emma Friesen and Megan Farrow — WAC Diver of the Year — to try and help it break into the Top 20 a second straight year. The program has high hopes for divers Magnus Frick and Mats Wiktorsson next week.

Then, it's back to recruiting. UH received 10 commitments in November and hopes to get up to six more.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.