Swimming has been a part of Kuba Kotynia’s life since elementary school. Growing up in Lodz, Poland, he attended an athletic primary school where every student had to play a sport. Faced with the decision of track or swimming, he chose the latter and stuck with it ever since.

Now a junior at Syracuse, Kotynia is the latest of many strong European swimmers to attend SU during head coach Lou Walker’s tenure.

‘I think if you look, we have worked hard over quite a few years and have had some very nice success with some outstanding European athletes,’ Walker said.

Kotynia is the next in the line of talented Syracuse swimmers from Europe. The Orange has produced several high-quality performers over the years, starting with Miroslav Vucetic, who swam in the 1996 Olympics. Nearly every significant program record is held by foreign talent.

Kotynia, likely the best athlete on SU this season, looks to establish his place among some of Syracuse’s greatest swimmers.

The avenue to central New York was first travelled by Vucetic. A national record holder in his home country, Vucetic finished as high as second in the NCAA championships and still holds five school records. Vucetic’s brother, Josko, also swam for the Orange and earned All-America recognition.

‘In Europe, in the summers for competitive swimming they will go to meets, and there are kids from a lot of different countries,’ Walker said. ‘The kids talk to each other, and they ask where you go to school. Someone says Syracuse and the next thing you know, you become a place that kids are looking at.’

This was precisely how Kotynia arrived at SU. From 2003-2007, the Orange had a swimmer by the name of Luk Boral, who was born and raised in Poland. During his youth, Boral was a European Junior Champion and a Polish National Senior Champion in the 200 breaststroke. He qualified for NCAAs three times while at Syracuse before graduating.

Kotynia first met Boral during his youth swimming in Poland and said that Boral set his path to Division I swimming at Syracuse.

‘Top swimmers became an inspiration to the children in Poland,’ Boral said. ‘Children start swimming at the age of 6 years old, and by the time they’re 15, they practice over 30 hours a week. Athletes back in Poland are extremely serious about swimming and live through that sport.’

Kotynia chose Syracuse for reasons besides swimming. In Poland, athletes who want to continue their careers in college have to go into an athletic-related major. But Kotynia had other academic aspirations and searched for an American university to pursue swimming. Syracuse fit that need, and he currently studies computer science.

Kotynia said the most difficult part of the transition to the United States is the language barrier. Though Kotynia knew some English before arriving, taking classes in a second language was difficult at first.

‘It’s a special person that can do that,’ Walker said. ‘You have a very motivated and intelligent person that is able to go to college in a second language, do it successfully and do a sport at the same time.’

Kotynia qualified for the Big East Championships in each of his first two seasons, swimming the 100 and 200 breaststroke. After narrowly missing the NCAAs last season, he is using that as motivation for this year. The team opened the season here in Syracuse in a non-scoring meet against Army and Marist, and Kotynia won all of his events.

Having faced little competition thus far, he is looking forward to competing at the U.S. Nationals in Seattle, where he will face some of the toughest competition in the country.

‘Right away, he came across as a very focused and determined young man with specific goals in his mind,’ Boral said. ‘He had this smile and enthusiasm that were never leaving his face. Today, we exchange e-mails here and there, and I follow his achievements with great satisfaction.’

And so as the swimming and diving team completes the phase out over the next two years, Kotynia’s continued success in the pool will be the silver lining for the end of a once-storied program.

‘We have some unique challenges because of our circumstance, and that said, I think it motivates him,’ Walker said. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he gets over that last hurdle and qualifies for NCAAs.’

Mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on November 16, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13