Pawlowicz Breaks Butterfly Record

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Saturday, June 28, 2008

When Tavistock's Kaitlin Pawlowicz touched the wall to win her 50-meter butterfly heat on Wednesday night, she had no idea that she had just broken an Old Dominion Swim League record. Going into the Tsunami's meet against Lovettsville, Kaitlin didn't even know what the record was, let alone that she had a chance to eclipse it.

But with a time of 31.07, the 15-year-old from Heritage High School shattered Julia Crowley's record (31.49) while winning the second of three 15-18 heats as Tavistock defeated the visiting Dolphins 461-391.

"I was just going into the meet looking to have fun and help the team win," Kaitlin said. "I didn't even know I had broken the record until my mom told me a little later. So that was cool."

Breaking records is nothing new for Kaitlin. As a freshman on the Pride's swim team this winter, she set new Virginia state records in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter fly at the state meet. With her time in the 100-meter butterfly, she broke former Stone Bridge and current Virginia Tech swimmer Megan Newell's mark, as the Pride's girls' team finished fifth at the tournament.

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Kaitlin Pawlowicz

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Kaitlin Pawlowicz, 15, swims for the Tavistock Tsunamis. John Flanagan, left, is Pawlowicz's coach at the Curl Burke Swim Club. (Karen Pawlowicz)

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The All-Extra first team girls' swimmers of the year are, from left: Emily Winland, Stone Bridge; Kaitlin Pawlowicz, Heritage; Suzanne Schwee, Stone Bridge; Caylyn Tate, Potomac Falls; Bridget Werner, Potomac Falls; Suzanne Nelson, Loudoun County; and Valerie McMullan, Heritage. (Joel Richardson)

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"I wasn't really thinking about records," Kaitlin said. "I was thinking about the team effort and scoring points for the team. So I guess it just comes when it comes."

With an intense practice schedule that includes three hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Curl-Burke Swim Club in Washington, D.C. and three-hour afternoon practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the YWCA in Tyson's Corner, Kaitlin doesn't always have time to squeeze in practices at Tavistock. But she still enjoys being able to escape the pressure of club swimming by competing with the Tsunamis in the summer.

"It's not as competitive, it's very low-key, so you don't have to worry about the stress," she said. "You can take it seriously or you can just go and do your swim and have fun. You're with your friends in the summer and you just come together to have a good time."

When she's not competing, Kaitlin helps coach the younger kids on Tavistock's team and she also volunteers at Courts and Ridges where she helps teach clinics. Brian Pawlowicz, Kailtin's father, is one of the coaches for Tavistock. And while he is hesitant to do much direct coaching of his daughter for fear of "wrecking something," he is grateful to have her and other older girls around to help out with the younger members of the team.

"All the teenage girls seem to do well with the younger kids," Pawlowicz said. "But it's good to have them out there to help because the younger kids can be a handful and it's hard to watch more than a couple at a time and teach them anything. So the older girls help out a lot."

Pawlowicz, who swam in high school and briefly in college at Western Michigan, got Kaitlin started at the age of five in summer leagues in Michigan, where they lived until 2005.

"It's great to be a part of it as a parent," he said. "I try not to live vicariously through her though. I did my share -- I swam from age 7 to 21 or 22. So I had my time. But it's fun to watch the kids at the meets and be excited when they succeed."

Kaitlin just missed the Olympic trial cut for the 200-meter fly, falling three-one-hundredths of a second short of the 2:16.69 cut-off. But she remains hopeful about her chances of making the United States Junior National team next summer, despite an even faster trial cut – 2:15.99.

In the interim, several more ODSL marks are well within her reach. Kaitlin was only 18 tenths of a second behind the 50-meter freestyle record of 29.27 against Lovettsville and 40 tenths of a second shy of the 100 IM record of 1:10.59. She'll get her first next crack at those times today as the Tsunamis host Ida Lee.

"I'm looking to break them," Kaitlin said. "It'd be fun to do that and have my name on the record board a couple more times.

Tagged: Old Dominion Swim League, swimming, swimming results

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