Redmond resident Heather Harper shined at the recent Speedo Junior National Championships at the William Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine, Calif., placing 17th out of 115 swimmers from across the United States in the 100 meter breaststroke.

After qualifying in a tie for 18th in the large field, Harper won the “C” heat final in thrilling fashion, coming from behind and swimming a personal best 1 minute, 12.33 seconds, edging out New Jersey state champion Colleen Callahan by one one-hundredth of a second (1:12.34) at the wall.

“I think I was fourth going into the turn (at 50 meters), but I could see them out of the corners of my goggles,” Harper recalled. “I saw that we were all pretty much neck-and-neck… when everyone’s pretty close I can usually bring it home and find that extra bit of drive. I didn’t even know it was one one-hundredth of a second, when I saw the results I was like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s crazy!'”

Harper also was well within the 2008 Olympic Qualifying time of 1:12.59 which would have earned her a berth to the Olympic Trials. The 2012 Olympic qualifying times have not been announced yet, but may get slower due to the elimination of ‘fast’ swimsuits.

Harper, a home-schooled senior who will swim for Redmond High School in the fall, will get a short break to refuel before the Mustangs’ practices begin next week.

“I’m spending the week here in California with my grandparents, so I’ll get to relax on the beach and take a little break before it starts all over again,” she said.

Harper swims for PRO Club Bellevue under the tutelage of head coach Justin Berry, who has been coaching her since she was 10 years old.

“I really enjoyed swimming at that level of competition,” said Harper of the overall experience. “It was a good race in prelims too, I knew I had to go fast in order to make it into the finals because so many of those girls are so fast. I was not expecting to (make the finals), so I was really nervous, but my coach was able to calm me down a little bit. Because I’ve had the experience of swimming in Senior Nationals and those meets, I was able to calm myself down and really prepare myself for the race.”