University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt Senior Swimmer Kinga Cichowska Excels at Polish Nationals
12/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
OLSZTYN, Poland—Even compared to the already hectic schedule of a top collegiate student-athlete, Kinga Cichowska just completed a pretty crazy week.
That’s because the University of Pittsburgh senior swimmer finished her finals, caught a flight to Europe and competed with great success at the Polish Swimming Winter Nationals over the weekend in Olsztyn, Poland.
“I had a lot of fun racing in my home country,” said Cichowska, who is from Wroclaw, Poland. “It was a great experience representing Pitt and seeing many old friends.”
Cichowska didn’t just compete with some of the best swimmers from her homeland; she raced at her absolute best, posting several short course meters pool personal records and top-five finishes at the event.
Three second-place swims highlighted Cichowska’s successes at the Polish Swimming Winter Nationals.
Individually, she finished runner-up in the 200 breast with a final time of 2:25.27—a mark almost three seconds better than her qualifying effort. Cichowska also competed with her relays teams with great success, placing second in the 4x50 medley race with a tremendous breast split of 31.61 and helping her 4x100 medley relay team take silver with a very impressive breast split of 1:07.14.
She also earned a trio of third-place finishes.
After advancing through the preliminary rounds and the semifinals in the 50 breast, Cichowska took third place in the event with her finals time of 31.88. She had previously posted a 31.85 in the event in the prelims. The Pitt senior also placed third in the 200 IM with a final time of 2:15.49 and in the 100 breast with a time of 1:07.42 in the final race after qualifying through earlier rounds of each event.
Cichowska will return to Pitt for her final semester with the Panthers, which begins when the team resumes its 2016-17 campaign with a Backyard Brawl home meet against West Virginia on Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. Admission at Trees Pool will be FREE to all fans. The meet will also be shown online and via the WatchESPN app on ACC Network Extra.
#H2P | #H2oP | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
