2 How did you overcome this condition?
Kristy: Rest, just rest. I went home to Pennsylvania for a week, then went home for another week after nationals. So I spent about three weeks back home. (Laughs) I had my mom take care of me, and I got some really good rest �V and some time away from swimming. When I started back, I eased myself into swimming. I didn��t jump back in and try to prove anything to anyone. I tried to get back into it and get more comfortable. (The racing heart) wasn��t something serious �V in my case �V but it was scary. Because going through that, when I was training I couldn��t train at the level I had been in. Two laps into warm-up could feel like I was in the middle of a threshold set. It became frustrating when I��d train, because I couldn��t do what I used to do. It took a couple hundred dollars of blood work to figure out what it was �V or wasn��t.

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3 So the blood work told you what?
Kristy: Actually, the blood test showed nothing seriously wrong. The doctor just said for me to back off on the mornings the heart rate was high. It came down to getting some rest and backing off a little bit, before I could get better.

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4 Sounds odd �V this will be your third Olympic Trials �V but you really are one of the veterans this time around. How��s that affected you?
Kristy: You definitely change as you get older. I remember when (I swam for the University of Georgia), making fun of the ��post-grads�� training. ��You think too much, you just need to race,�� was my thought (toward them). But now, (laughs), I��m totally the way they used to be! In practice, as you get older, you start critiquing yourself more �V you worry a lot more. One of the biggest changes from 21 to 25 is the change in your body. You are still able to reach the level you were at, but the recovery time is just not as fast �V so you can��t do your best times every time you go out. Good times come and go. Now, though, they are worth so much more to me than when I was younger.

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5 You��ve been rooming with your good friend Courtney Shealy down in Georgia for a while now. Word is you have some changes coming up in your life?
Kristy: Yes, I will be moving home to Pennsylvania after this summer. I��ve been away for eight years, and I miss it. The real world is knocking on my door! I��ll be a school teacher! My undergrad is in early childhood education, and I am almost finished with my Master��s in middle school education. I really like the older elementary grades �V fourth and fifth �V and that��s what my master��s emphasizes, the upper elementary not the (junior high grades). I did love second and third grade, but fifth graders are at an age where you can teach them about the subject, more than it being mostly just reading and phonics. My mom was a teacher for 20 years. I declared my major as a freshman when I came here �V there was no question what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. And I drool over babies every time I see a baby in the stroller. I just love kids, obviously. That��s one of the reasons I want to be a teacher. And I want to have children, too.

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6 What��s the last movie that made you cry?
Kristy: That��s a tough one. When I was younger, I never used to cry at movies, and I��d yell at mom for crying! Now I��m the one who cries! Probably ��Raising Helen.��

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7 You really seem to have made the most of your time at Georgia, correct?
Kristy: I��ve definitely made the most of it. I��m one of those people who has to stay busy. If I was not taking classes, I knew I��d go insane. And down here, you do THREE semesters �V not just one semester of student teaching �V so it��s more like an internship.

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8 Some speculation centers around just what you will do at Trials �V 100 and 200 breaststrokes, obviously?
Kristy: I��ve always been planning on doing the 200 (breaststroke). If it works out with the scheduling of events, the more shots you have �V the more swims �V the better your chances. I don��t want to focus on just one event. I��ve always done the 100 and 200. I have had some pretty good IM times too�Kso, I��m not sure, but I might add a third event. It just depends on the turnaround. Two events for sure. Three events �V there��s a slim chance. And (laughs) there��s no chance for me doing four events!

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9 It seems like, looking at your times, you go fastest in even-numbered years �V that��s a good thing! What is up with what seems like you slowing down every other year and then hitting the gas again? Because now, you are clearly back on track and going fast.
Kristy: You have to be patient with it. Last year (my times) were not from a lack of work. There was so much frustration last year �V I��m not going to lie. And there��s no single person who can say they were happy with every swim in their career. You just have to take the good with the bad. If you don��t think you can reach your goals again, you might as well not get into the pool. But if you believe in yourself and the work you are doing, you will get there.

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10 How will your mindset entering these Olympic Trials be different from the first two you swam in?
Kristy: It��s going to be a lot different. I have to go into Trials and say, ��I��ve had an awesome career and have taken so much away from my swimming.�� If it��s time to end, I have to accept that. I won��t look back and regret anything. But, I believe I have put the work in and I have stepped it up this year, compared to last year. I��m nothing but positive about Trials. The Olympic Trials is the emotional-toll meet. You watch friends make the team, or watch them miss by hundredths of a second. If you are down after one day, you have to pick yourself up the next day. Anything can, and will, happen. You will see people from Lanes 1 and 8 making the team, not just Lane 4. Anything can happen. It is a meet for darkhorses.

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11 How do you stay so positive?
Kristy: There have definitely been times, especially in the last year, when I��ve been down. But you have to bounce back. You can��t stay down for too long or it becomes a pattern. It has a lot to do with the people you surround yourself with �V if they are positive that will help you a lot.

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12 What will you be able to do back home that you haven��t been able to do at Georgia?
Kristy: I think the biggest thing I��m looking forward to is watching my brother Keith play volleyball. He plays on Penn State��s volleyball team and is very good. He is awesome, and this will be his final season, so to be able to go around and watch him play will be special. My family has spent a lot of time coming to watch me swim, so this will be great to follow Keith and his team!
 

13 So I suppose this means no 2008 for you. Are you sure?
Kristy: (Laughs) Am I going to rule out 2008 (pause)�KYes! There is no chance for 2008! Everything revolves around this summer, though. I don��t see going on, but you never know.

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14 Do you see yourself coaching at some point?
Kristy: Not really. If I did coach, it would be for older swimmers, not age group. Maybe (laughs) I could coach kickball!

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15 What��s another sport you��d have loved to compete in if not swimming?
Kristy: That��s a tough one. Can I pretend (laughs) I��m good at it? I��ve always really liked watching basketball. I think that would be fun. I have neither the skill nor the coordination for it. People ask Courtney, since we��re tall (Kristy is 6-foot-1, Courtney 6-3), can��t you play basketball? And we��re like, ��No!�� Wait, I know what sport �V water polo. I love that. I play it in the summers back home �V two summers in a league, and it was so much fun

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16 Okay, where are you headed this weekend if you can go anywhere?
Kristy: Hawaii. I��ve never been, and I want to go. My brother (Keith) has gone there and always calls me and tells me how awesome it is. And I��d love to learn to surf.

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17 What kind of music do you listen to?
Kristy: Everything! Country, hip-hop, R&B, the ��80s�K anything on the radio. Such a mixture.

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18 What��s another area of study, besides education, that interests you?
Kristy: Entomology! I had to make a bug collection. I had close to 100 bugs, and each had two different labels on it �V where I got it, the family name, what��s its order�K I had everyone on the team helping me (laughs), and age group kids would come in with these baggies of bugs! It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.

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19 What has swimming taught you about yourself?
Kristy: It��s taught me that I��m stronger than I think I am. Not physically, but emotionally�K That I can bounce back from disappointment and use it as motivation. I learned a lot about myself at (the 2000) Trials, because I didn��t make the team that first day in the 100 (breaststroke). I had one day to pull it all together. Everyone would say sorry, and I��d hear that and start crying. So the next morning a coach said, ��Don��t go to the pool yet, it will be a pity party.�� I said, ��No, I have to deal with it.�� The longer you put it off, the harder it is to deal with. 

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20 This 2004 U.S. women��s team could be one of those ��teams for the ages,�� with likely members including young stars and established stars and some of the potentially best U.S. swimmers ever. What would it mean to be a part of that team?
Kristy: This (2004) team would be so much fun. In 2000, the average age on the women��s team was 21 �V way above the average from the 1996 team. So it would be really fun to see how the younger swimmers react to different things. And I��d wonder if, when I was young, if I would have reacted the same way �V I don��t mean anything negative by that, just the excitement of it all. Whoever is on the team will pull together. If you make this team, you have done the work. And it��s always fun to meet people and hear their stories and share yours with them.