Czyrka Follows 14-time Olympic Gold Medalist Into the Pool

Saline sophomore Cristina Czyrka is swimming alongside some of the sport's biggest names at the Eric Namesnik Grand Prix at the University of Michigan this weekend.

She competed in several events, including the 400 individual medley. Sunday, she is scheduled to swim in the 200 individual medley. Friday, Czyrka took 23^rd in the preliminaries of the 100 breaststroke and qualified for the finals. Later that night, swimming in a heat with swimmers from Texas, Florida and Canada, Czyrka finished 23^rd in time of 1:17.20.

Czyrka, a member of two state championship swim teams and two-time all-state swimmer, took the meet in stride.

“It’s cool, I guess. I try to be modest about it,” she said.

Modesty aside, it’s worth pointing out that when Czyrka dove into the pool in lane one of Friday’s 100 breaststroke finals, she was diving into the lane that 14-time Olympic Gold medalist Michael Phelps had just climbed out of.

“I thought he was making the lane lucky,” Czyrka said.

Czyrka, who hopes to go on and swim at a Division 1 college after high school, said she wasn’t nervous about swimming in a meet with some of the biggest names in the sport.

“I just think of it was once race, compared to the hundreds I have already swam,” she said.

Her dad, John, proudly tweeted the results from the meet.

“It was her first Grand Prix meet and for her to come back for the finals was a big accomplishment. She has a had a great season so far, especially in winning the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the 2011 Short Course State Meet this year,” he said. “She has worked hard to get where she is at this year.”