The Oh-My-Gosh Girl

Thanks to her upset victory in the 100 breast at World Championships and her subsequent reaction, Georgia's Kristy Kowal is becoming a popular figure in swimming.

Kristy Kowal says she is now known as the "Oh-my-gosh girl," thanks to her shocked and ecstatic expression after winning the 100 breast at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, Jan. 13. The image was broadcast around the world, reaching her family back in Reading, Pa., before she could tell them the news.

But success should no longer come as such a surprise to the 19-year-old University of Georgia sophomore, considering her performance at Worlds and the recent Southeastern Conference championships, where she set the American record in the 100 breast and won both that and the 200 breast, helping Georgia defend its SEC title.

"No one really knew who I was going into Worlds," said Kowal, a member of the 1995 and 1997 U.S. Pan Pacific teams. "I think I shocked a lot of people, including myself. I really didn't think I had a chance at a gold medal in an individual event. I was hoping just maybe I could get on the relay and get a gold, but I was going for a bronze in the individual. Even during the race I thought I was racing for the bronze. I couldn't believe it when I heard it announced that I had won."

In addition to her 100 gold, which she won with a time of 1:08.42, Kowal placed second in the 200 at Perth (2:26.19) and finished first by over three seconds as part of the 400 medley relay.

"It was an even bigger shock during the 200 because I never considered myself a 200 swimmer," said Kowal, who added that she "absolutely loved" Australia and spent time feeding kangaroos and koalas when she wasn't swimming. "I think I just hit my taper right, and I'd been training really hard with the team at Georgia."

Jack Bauerle, Kowal's coach at Georgia, said they had been focusing on the 200 during fall training and that judging from Kowal's hard and consistent training all year, he wasn't at all surprised by her results.

"When's someone's swimming that fast in workout, it's pretty evident that they'll do well," said Bauerle, who also coached junior Amanda Adkins, a close friend of Kowal's, to a spot on the World Championship team for the 200 back.

"She gets something positive out of workout every day. Her talent is matched by her willingness to work hard, and she also really thrives on the team aspect."

Bauerle noted that Kowal is also an outstanding student, having earned a 3.67 grade-point average this year, which gave her a spot on the Dean's List.

"She's really knocking it down in the classroom," he said. "She does everything well."

Kowal took two weeks off after Pan Pacs in Japan last summer to have her wisdom teeth taken out. She quickly returned to training, however, and worked hard right up until Worlds, doing an effective short drop taper.

"I did a lot of yardage almost right up until the meet, and then I didn't do much at all," she said. "That made it a lot easier to build back up afterward. In four or five days, I was right back with the team, minus jetlag."

Getting quickly back into training after Worlds was important to her, given her goals for NCAAs�goals that include helping her Georgia team win a national title. She is also hopeful of winning the breaststroke events, considering her unshaved and untapered performances at SECs, Feb. 19-21, in Gainesville, Fla. She set the American record in the 100 breast there with a time of 1:00.04p, as well as winning the 200 in a best time of 2:10.29. She also finished second in the 200 IM in a PR of 1:59.63 and was on four of her team's relays, which all placed second to Auburn. Kowal said SECs were especially exciting since Georgia was behind well into the third day of the meet, then ended up winning by over 100 points.

"I'm confident we can win a national title," she said about a month before NCAAs, which were to take place in mid-March. "After that, I'll focus on making another national team this summer."

While the 2000 Olympics are in the back of Kowal's mind, she said she doesn't want to think about it much yet. "I like taking it one step at a time," she said. "Otherwise you get too anxious."

Kowal's results at SECs and Worlds just continued a pattern of improvement she has had since starting school at Georgia. She has dropped two seconds in her 100 breast, four seconds in the 200 breast and seven seconds in the 200 IM since starting school. Last year at NCAAs, she took second in the 100 breast by only 6-hundredths of a second and placed third in the 200 breast and ninth in the 200 IM.

She attributes her success to an increased dryland/weight program and stepped-up yardage of 4,000 to 5,000 yards in the morning and 7,000 to 8,000 in the evening. During high school in her hometown of Reading, Pa., Kowal never did double workouts and only swam for her high school team, although she trained with club coach Ed Frasier of Harrisburg Swim Club.

"The intensity of my training has really gone up here, especially training in the morning," she said. "It wasn't really accepted at my high school to go to class smelling like chlorine!"

Kristy Kowal and Michael Norment generally work out in the middle distance group at the University of Georgia. Here are two recent workouts they did: one long course, the other short course.