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Junior swimmer recovers from slow start

By Andrew Taylor

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Iuliia Kuzhil, Cherkasy, Ukraine, junior swimmer has fought through less-than-ideal circumstances to become one of the Jayhawk’s biggest threats in the pool.

Nowhere is this fact more evident than in last year’s postseason competition. Kuzhil was one of only three Jayhawk swimmers and divers to compete at the 2009 NCAA championships, where she narrowly missed the finals by only .21 seconds.

She accomplished all of this after entering last season out of shape. Kuzhil had not swam competitively for two years leading up to her arrival at Kansas. This was not her own fault, though, as it is easily traced back to her home in the Ukraine.

Though Kuzhil didn’t begin swimming at a highly competitive level until the age of 12, she was first recruited to a local swim team when she was six years old. A lifelong love of water made the pool a natural fit for Kuzhil. In her first ever backstroke race she outpaced the competition and earned a first place victory. As a prize for this accomplishment Kuzhil received a small toy, which she points to as one of the key reasons for her interest in competitive swimming. This interest was so intense that it survived six years of relatively non-competitive swimming.

At the age of 12 her real training began. From this time onward her practices escalated from about an hour a day, five days a week, to two hours a day, six days a week. This led to more intense competition for a while, but eventually she ran into problems with financial aid and was limited to competing inside her own city. Kuzhil stated her belief that this inhibited her growth as an athlete because the level of competition was not high enough to push her to get better. This along with the fact that the pool in her hometown closes during the summer months led to her slow start at KU.

“The last couple of years I didn’t compete outside my city, so I didn’t get to compete on the higher level I needed to grow as an athlete,” Kuzhil said.

Swimming and Diving coach Clark Campbell also recognized Kuzhil’s struggles last season.

“It was a rough start,” Campbell said.

This rough start was somewhat eased by former Kansas swimmer Maria Mayrovich. Mayrovich, who is from Novorossiysk, Russia, came from a system similar to Kuzhil’s and as such they struck up a quick friendship.

“She was like my sister,” Mayrovich said. “When I fell down she was always there for me, and when she was down, I was there to pick her up.”

Kuzhil has worked hard in the offseason to ensure she doesn’t experience the same drawbacks she encountered in her first year as a Jayhawk. She returned to her hometown during the summer months. Since the pool was not open, Kuzhil heavily relied on the support of her family to guide her training. With the “never-give up” support of her mother, Kuzhil underwent training at the instruction of her brother, who is also her fitness trainer.

Through all of this, Kuzhil enters the season in better shape than ever.

“She’s used to being here in the states now, she knows how things work,” junior swimmer Alyssa Potter said.

Kuzhil has set her goals in accordance with this mindset.

“I want to try to make it to the finals,” Kuzhil said, referring to the NCAA finals.

She’s not the only one expecting great things this year.

“She’s a world apart from where she was last year,” Campbell said. “She has the talent to be a top-eight finisher at nationals.”

— — Edited by Tim Burgess

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