Brown swimming for more records

Records are meant to be broken.

As true as that may be, most athletes just view records as… Records are meant to be broken.

As true as that may be, most athletes just view records as something they would like to accomplish, but do not set their sights on them. Pitt sophomore swimmer Kristin Brown, however, is not most athletes.

Before the start of each swimming and diving season, every member of the team has to fill out a goal sheet. According to head coach Chuck Knoles, each student will set goals for the year. These goals are entirely up to each individual and deal with both athletics and academics.

When asked about the goal sheets, Knoles stressed the importance of having goals, in swimming and life in general, and actually writing them down.

“One of the most important things someone can do is to not only to think about what your goals are going to be, but to write them down,” Knoles said. “That translation from a mental state to a written state is huge.”

Brown’s goal sheet included setting new school records in several events.

On Jan. 4, one of those times was met. The Panthers entered the pool with the Princeton Tigers; Brown won the 200-meter freestyle event with a time of 1:50.34

That time was .55 seconds faster than the previous school record that Carolyne Savini set in 2003.

When Brown was asked about the event, she simply smiled and said she was surprised to get it so early in the season, but the time on her goal sheet was actually faster.

Brown had good reason for such high hopes entering her second collegiate season. Last year as a freshman, she was part of the Panthers’ top five in four different freestyle events and went on to finish 14th in the Big East in the 50-yard freestyle. Along with her individual accomplishments, she earned her first All-Big East honor as a part of the 400 freestyle relay.

With all those accomplishments in the pool, the one she is most proud of occurred in the classroom. Brown was selected as a 2003-2004 Big East Academic All-Star.

“I didn’t think it was that hard last year,” Brown said, “but looking back on it, I see how much harder it really was because I was so new to it all. Now that I’ve been through everything at least once, I know what to expect and don’t get so nervous.”

Knoles is anything but surprised when it comes to Brown’s academic success. “The brighter kids are the ones who can figure it all out and figure out how to make themselves better,” Knoles said. “And Kristin does that.”

Knoles also noted that Brown has fully taken advantage of her opportunity at Pitt. Coming from a small high school in East Berlin, Pa., Brown was just an outstanding swimmer. Now, she has a strength coach and a conditioning coach, as well as a swim coach. And according to Knoles, Brown was able to “learn her sport a lot better.”

It’s hard to imagine a three-time high school state champion was able to improve much, but Knoles believes Brown’s intense off-season training regimen has allowed to her to take herself to the next level.

“In high school, she just swam the 50 and the 100,” Knoles said. “I think her best event now is the 200, the one she set the record in, and her second best event is the 500. She won two state titles in the 100 and one in the 50 and those are probably her third and fourth best events.”

Despite all her success, Brown knows she can get better, and is looking forward to steadily improving in the next three weekend meets before the Big East Championships.

“I want to have my best times at Big East,” Brown said. “If I am successful there, hopefully I will get a shot at the NCAAs.”

If that’s the case, the future for Brown could be many more school records. Who knows what her goal sheet will look like in the years to come. They will likely include times that will even break her own records.

Understandably so — even personal records are meant to be broken.