LEWISBURG — A shoulder injury and coaching troubles a few years ago threatened to derail Katie Kurzinsky’s swimming career before it really got started.
But the Marian sophomore set high goals, worked harder and dedicated herself to becoming a state-caliber swimmer.
Thursday, all that hard work and dedication paid off.
Two weeks after winning her first District 11 championship, Kurzinsky advanced to the consolation finals and placed 12th in the 100 backstroke at the PIAA Class AA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
“To go from last year not even qualifying for states, to this year making the consolation finals and coming in 12th has been an amazing journey and experience,” Kurzinsky said. “I’ve really progressed the past year. It’s exciting to see how much I’ve improved in the past year and how much I can improve in the future.”
Seeded ninth, Kurzinsky was 11th in the morning prelims in 1:00.22, earning her a trip to the consolation finals.
In the evening, the Hazleton 16-year-old went even faster, being clocked in 59.93 seconds.
She said a good pep talk from her coach (and stepfather) Bill Moore and some words of encouragement from Marian grad and current Saucon Valley coach Kristen Shickora helped make her first trip to states a successful one.
“I was pretty nervous this morning. I was a little intimidated, a little scared because this is my first time here,” Kurzinsky said.
“Tonight, I came into the consolation finals pretty excited. I was feeling pretty confident. My coach gave me a great pep talk, my parents (Moore and mother Maria Tacelosky) helped me, Kristen Shickora talked to me ... it really helped to know that everybody believed in me and helped me believe in myself.
“Honestly, I just wanted to make finals,” she continued. “Placing 12th, that’s good enough for me. I’m excited because it’s my first time here. It’s an honor to compete with these girls and display my talents on this kind of level.”
Thursday’s performance was Kurzinsky’s third big meet in a span of two weeks, as she sandwiched the YMCA Central District Championships last Saturday in York between the District 11 and PIAA meets.
Kurzinsky placed third in the 100 backstroke, third in the 100 freestyle and fifth in two relays in the Open 15-and-Over Division at YMCA districts, qualifying for next weekend’s YMCA state meet at Penn State.
She said the heavy amount of competition didn’t bother her Thursday. In fact, her consolation finals time just missed the cut for YMCA nationals.
“I don’t think it helped or hurt me, but it might have helped as far as the experience goes,” Kurzinsky said. “There were fast girls at YMCA districts, too, and it made it easier to adjust to the pressure level knowing I was going to be competing against a pretty elite level of competition.”
As she talked about her season, Kurzinsky reflected on the improvement she’s made, the adversity she’s overcome and her success this season.
She gave a lot of credit to Moore, her coach at the Hazleton YMCA Rob Gould, and her Marian teammates, Timmy Dando and Angelina Krupko for making her better.
“The encouragement of my parents and my teammates ... they really pushed me to go to practice, they pushed me to do better and they helped me to realize I could be better than what I did last year,” she said.
“I trained a lot harder this year, I set higher goals. Practices were more intense, so I really pushed myself a lot more this year, and that really helped.”
Two other Schuylkill League swimmers failed to advance out of the morning preliminaries.
Tamaqua’s Rebecca Kanaskie was 19th for the second straight day, this time in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.02.
Kanaskie, who was 19th in the 200 IM in Wednesday’s competition, was swimming the 100 breaststroke for the first time at states.
“My pull-out wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be, and I kind of messed up on the first turn,” the sophomore said. “My rhythm was good for the most part, and I’m happy with that time. It was my second-best time of the season, so I can’t be disappointed with that.
“Nineteenth is right there. Sixteenth isn’t that far away. In the next two years, I can do it.”
Marian’s Dando was 30th in the boys’ 500 freestyle in 5:08.33.
Dando, who earned the last at-large berth to qualify for states after placing third at districts, started off strong but faded toward the second half of the 20-lap race.
“I’m happy I’m here,” Dando said. “I was a little nervous being that it’s my first time here. But I have two more years to get here and improve my time and improve my finish.
“I was generally happy with my time,” he continued. “I think I went out a little too fast. I just couldn’t hold it. The back half I just died.”