Kristy A. Kowal 

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BY BRIAN K. SMITH
Southern Schuylkill Bureau Chief

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She was only 17/100ths of a second short.

Kristy A. Kowal's third place finish during an Olympic qualifier fell just shy of a trip to Atlanta and a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team in 1996.

But the West Lawn woman - in her second year of senior level competition in 1996 - didn't get discouraged.

Kowal is now in Sydney, a proud member of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team.

While it may not have been a life-long dream, her mother Donna M. Kowal said recently that "it has been in the works since she missed it four years ago."

Kowal's Olympic nod wasn't from any Herculean efforts earlier on in her life.

She didn't get up at the crack of dawn to get in some swimming before school. And she didn't train too hard during her time at Wilson High School near Reading.

So when Kowal rocketed onto the scene in 1995, it was clear that natural talent played a major role in this future Olympian's success story.

Kowal - born Oct. 9, 1978, in Reading - wanted to follow in the footsteps of her mother Donna M., a teacher who used to bring Kowal to "take your daughter to school day."

After graduating high school in 1996, Kowal went to the University of Georgia, where she is majoring in education.

By that time, swimming became important to Kowal. And her natural talent began to show.

Kowal, who is 6'1" tall and weighs 150 lbs., began to swim year round in the spring of 1995. But she is a powerful swimmer who more than held her own in her first year of senior level competition.

After a few months of upgraded activity she made the1995 Pan Pacific Swimming Team (PAN PAC) - her first international team.

That same year, she set the national high school record in 100-yardbreaststroke. The breaststroke turned out to be Kowal's forte.

In the 1995 Summer Nationals, she was 7th in the 200m breaststroke and 2nd in the 100m breaststroke.

At the U.S. Open competition, she placed 4th place in the100m and 5th in the 200m. She also came in 5th in the 100m at Pan Pac.

The breast stroke continued to carry her. Kowal is now the American record holder in both the 100 and 200m breaststroke, owning the third fastest breaststroke split in world history - the first in U.S. history.

She began swimming in the NCAA Championships in 1997, finishing second in the 100y breast and 3rd in the 200-yard that year. The following year she came in first in the 100 yard.

At the NCAA championships, Kowal executed the fastest performance in history, breaking the U.S. open and American record. She's been winning World Championship Medals as well. She first swam in Perth, Australia, in 1997.

Among world and Olympic champions she was able to keep her head above water. Kristy won 1st place in a 400m relay.

She did that again in 1998 and that year she won the World Championship title for the 100m breaststroke.

She was the first American to win a world title in the event. She swam the third fastest 100m breast in history. She earned the silver medal in the 200m breast.

Kowal has now gone a little beyond her mother's footsteps.

In a recent interview, Donna Kowal said that her daughter did not play sports in her school career.

However, Kowal's father, Edward S., played basketball and baseball in school. And if anyone wanted to look for evidence that athletic ability "runs in the family," they need only take notice of Kowal's 18-year-old brother Keith.

Keith played all county golf and basketball while he was in high school. He graduated this year and is attending Pennsylvania State University, where he is playing volleyball.

Donna Kowal relates that her son only began playing volleyball in March yet his ability was evident enough that he was recruited by Penn State for their team.

What started out as fun for Kowal turned out to be a large part of her destiny due to her natural endowments. She has recently been nominated for NCAA women of the year - more honor as she prepares to swim for the gold.