CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Each day Heather Wolkom (Rumson, N.J./Rumson Fair-Haven Regional ) walks into her first grade classroom at Oley Valley Elementary School or into the Keystone Hall swimming pool, she feels a sense of pride and happiness despite a hectic schedule that keeps her busy for close to 12 hours a day.

Wolkom enjoys the long hours and hard work. After all, it has helped her set two school records and keep a smile on the faces of the first grade students she works with.
 
This weekend, Wolkom along with the rest of the Kutztown University women's swimming team will compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsville. The meet begins Thursday evening at 6 p.m. and continues through Sunday night.
 
"I am very nervous, but I have a lot of goals for this meet," Wolkom said. "I just want to go out with a bang and place high in the 1,000-yard freestyle and drop my school record by a lot. More importantly, I just want to do what I can to help our team place as high as possible in the team standings."
 
Wolkom has the sixth best time in the 1,000 freestyle (10:44.53) and the seventh fastest mark in the 1,650 freestyle (18:02.21) and 500 freestyle (5:13.12) heading into the PSAC Championships. The same traits of patience, faith and mental toughness that has enabled Wolkom to excel in the pool has helped her thrive during her student teaching experience.
 
Swimming is just a small part of Wolkom's daily routine. The All-PSAC scholar spends the rest of the day in the front of a classroom or in her room in the evening working on lesson plans, school work and trying to catch up on her rest.
 
"It is hard and a lot of work," Wolkom said of balancing both. "The kids are a handful, but they're so much fun. I've figured out how to separate school work and swimming. It definitely means a lot to me to have my name up on the wall and each time I look up there, I am proud of myself. It also makes me feel good when you see the kids get the lesson. I am like wow, "I actually taught them something."
 
Wolkom had no choice but to get used to the water when she was young. Her mother made a deal with her that went something like this: In order to go to the beach, you have to know how to swim. The rest is history and Wolkom hasn't stopped swimming. She has improved each year as a member of the Golden Bears. In her freshman year, she barely qualified for the 100 breaststroke at the PSAC championships.
 
"The following year myself and (former coach) Erin Goodhart noticed how well she was doing in distance sets during our Florida training trip and made a decision to have her try the 1000 free in our first meet back from Florida which was against Albright College," Kutztown coach Tim Flannery said. "Heather won the event in 11:02 which is a very respectable time for the first try.  We decided the following year to train her for the distance events."
 
Wolkom rewarded Flannery and Goodhart's faith by enjoying a memorable PSAC championship meet last year. She set the current school standards in her two signature events: 1,000 freestyle (10:31.88) and 1,650 freestyle (17:53.17).
 
"Sometimes you don't really know what a swimmer can do until after one year of them coming to school," Flannery said. "Heather has a fast turnover for a distance swimmer and can really bring it home on the end of her races.  Heather never had the opportunity to swim distance in high school.  That's something that can be better determined in a college program and were lucky to have picked up on her ability."