Swimming for a Championship
Dave Krzeminski is a swimmer, has been competitively since he was five years old. He says he can smell a nearby pool even when others can鈥檛. The solitary time he has spent staring at the pool tiles below has both toughened him and brought him solace. He feels at peace in the water. Through the years, he has developed what he calls a swim strategy, working with mentors to learn how to swim his race. It鈥檚 a very practical approach鈥攕tay back, wait for the moment, and bring it home with a finishing kick. The timing is everything.
For four years at Carnegie Mellon, he has trained, studied, and tailored his workouts. He has done something else, too, in preparation for the biggest meet of the year鈥攖he 2007 NCAA Division III Swimming Championships.
About a month before the national meet, Krzeminski, a material science and biomedical engineering dual major, gathers with some of his teammates in an off-campus rental home that the swim team calls 鈥渢he swimmer house.鈥� Krzeminski plugs in the hair clippers. It鈥檚 time for the 鈥渟havedown.鈥� They take turns being barbers, giving each other checkerboard patterns, mullets, sports logos, dollar signs, anything that makes them laugh. It doesn鈥檛 matter what they look like, because the hairstyles will change again in a few weeks anyway
A few days before the NCAA meet, Krzeminski is in a hotel room in Houston, Texas, which is hosting the championship. It鈥檚 time to finish the job the shavedown began. Hair is the enemy; it wants to slow him down. It means having a friend not just watching his back, but actually shaving his back. When the shavedown is done, the enemy is completely eliminated.
Krzeminski has spent his college career preparing for this championship. He has practiced twice a day for six days a week during every school year and trained every day during Thanksgivings and winter breaks. He engaged in 鈥渄ryland鈥� activities such as weight lifting and endured a workout known as 鈥渂uckets鈥� because of the buckets by the side of the pool for those foolish enough to have eaten lunch. To beat that other guy, to become successful, meant maintaining a work ethic that allowed for only the slim possibility of raw talent defeating him.
The All-American swimmer hopes the hard work will enable him to finally achieve his two 鈥渞each鈥� goals in swimming: being a national champion and setting a school record. His signature event is the 200-yard butterfly. As a freshman, he had a 17th-place national finish in that race with a time of 1:53.52. Two years later, he came in fifth place with a season-best 1:52.01 time.
When he dives into the pool for 鈥渢he last swim鈥� in his college career, his sleek body and the water connect. 鈥淚t was an amazing feeling of acceleration,鈥� he says. In 1:49.54, he becomes the 10th NCAA National Champion from Carnegie Mellon. In winning the 2007 200-yard men鈥檚 individual butterfly, he also set a Carnegie Mellon record, beating the old one by 0.02 seconds. When he sees his name next to the number one on the digital timing board above the pool, he quietly gives a fist pump into the air.
His hair having resurfaced since the shavedown, Krzeminski (E鈥�07) looks out at his home pool one last time.
