ROCKTON — Brian McGuire said Hononegah High School senior Emily Kastner has speed, but it is her endurance that separates her from the competition and bodes well for her future as a collegiate swimmer.
“Everybody wants to be the big sprinter, the dash for cash, but by swimming distance events she has the opportunity to do things a lot of others can’t do,” he said. “Emily is really strong. She’s a determined young lady who puts in a lot of hard work.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Kastner signed her letter-of-intent to attend and swim for NCAA Division III Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky.
Kastner swam both the breaststroke and distance freestyle events for the Indians, helping them win the NIC-10 championship this past season.
“Swimming the breaststroke and the distance events are sort of polar opposites, but she has what it takes to do them,” said McGuire, who has coached Kastner in both high school and club swimming. “The good thing for Emily is that she swims events in club season, like the 1,000 and mile which will benefit her in college. I think she’ll also swim the 200 breaststroke in college, which should benefit her. The 100 is really quick and her tempo is geared more for the 200. I think she will do really well and score lots of points.”
Kastner said she actually recruited Transylvania initially.
“The summer of my junior year I reached out because I saw the average ACT score at Transylvania matched where I was,” the honor student said. “I was definitely looking for schools I could possibly swim at.”
She said the distance — about a 7 1-2 hour drive — concerned her at first.
“It was nerve wracking knowing I was going so far away to school, but I think it will turn out OK,” she said. “I figure I’ll call home every day and I know I’ll make friends there. The environment there is really nice. When I was standing in a corner waiting for my coach people kept coming up to me and introducing themselves. Everyone was really nice and that’s an exciting factor for me.”
Transylvania has a student body of around 1,000 students or about half Hononegah’s size.
“I think you have a good chance to get to know more people and your professors and I think that will be helpful,” the future Psychology major said.
As for putting in all the laps to reach her current aptitude in the pool, Kastner said she finds the work fulfilling.
“Swimming has been there most of my life,” she said. “When I’m having a bad day I can go swim and kind of forget about it. When I’m done with a school day my energy can be way down, but when I get to practice and I’m with my friends my energy is back way up. I leave in a better mood than when I got there. Getting a hard set done is really rewarding.”
And swimming a mile is …fun?
“When you’re swimming it, there is no love for it, but afterward you’re like ‘I did that’ and you really feel refreshed,” she said.
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