Olympic Medalist Swimmer Now Making Waves with Third Grade

Kristy Kowal hasn't been in the pool much lately. You might find that hard to believe for an eight-time NCAA champion and Olympic silver medalist swimmer, but a class full of third graders will keep you busy. Kowal is now a teacher at Whitfield Elementary, the same school where she once walked the halls as a sixth grader. What happened between the sixth grade and becoming a teacher can be found in the record books. "I started swimming when I was five," Kowal said. "Growing up, I was not a very good swimmer. I was even on the C team at the YMCA when I was younger." That changed when she grew six inches in one summer and started getting better. She says she started taking swimming more seriously in high school. Kowal credits several coaches that helped her reach her goals, including Randy Kinard, Helen Stevenson, and Nancy Penagacos. She set a national high school record in the 100 breaststroke and nearly qualified for the 1996 Olympic team at 17-years-old. She missed competing at the games in Atlanta that year by 17 hundredths of a second. Instead of Atlanta, she headed to the University of Georgia on athletic scholarship. "I always remember the Reading Eagle headline saying Kowal to stay a Bulldog," recalls the Wilson High graduate. "I knew I wasn't ready to be finished with swimming after high school. It had always been a dream of mine to go to the Olympics. College swimming was basically a continuation of the path toward that dream." The intensity of training at the collegiate level was a big change for Kowal, but she credits that with getting her to the Olympics. Two practices a day, swimming up to 54 miles a week, a weights and "dry land" program, and races with her peers during practices, pushed her swimming to the next level. While at the University of Georgia, she helped the Bulldogs win three NCAA swimming championships and qualified for the 2000 summer Olympics. She won her silver medal in the 200 breaststroke in Sydney, Australia. She was also named NCAA Women of The Year in 2000. "It was a dream come true to win the Olympic medal, after so many near misses to make the team," she said. And where does this Olympian keep her medal? Kowal's sits securely in her sock drawer, along with all her other swimming medals. She graduated from Georgia in 2002 with a degree in early childhood education and continued to swim professionally with sponsors like Speedo, Nike, Arby's and Nivea. "I saw the world for free doing what I loved," she said. Eventually, Kowal wanted to be closer to her family, so she hung up her swim cap and returned home, landing the job at Whitfield. She says the mental and physical exhaustion of teaching eight and nine year-olds is harder than the pool some days, but it's a job she loves. "It's a totally different type of tired, at the end of the day. If you are giving your students 100%, then you are beat!" Kowal still follows the sport as some of her friends are competing for the 2008 games, but she's content staying out of the water. "I got in the pool the other day for the first time in months," she said. "After 21 years of seeing a pool every day, I need a long break from that."