Feb. 23, 2011

By Nick Boucher

Justyna Hampel has been swimming nearly her entire life. Of course, there was probably not much of a choice after having a father who is a swim coach at home.

Hampel grew up in Poland and moved to the U.S. in order to swim at Wright State. She did not leave Poland, however, without leaving her mark first. Hampel experienced a lot of success in the form of earning a gold medal in the Polish Nationals along with setting a national record.

"I have gained motivation from swimming," said Hampel. "I have also become stronger as a person."

While she has had a great deal of success, this sophomore star has had many different injuries that she has had to endure. In fact, she even said that when she describes how she competes or swims the word she would use is endurance. It obviously fits for a number of reasons, especially her endurance to fight through injuries and also due to the fact that she is a distance swimmer.

With all of what she has been through, Hampel has enjoyed many memorable moments that she recalls.

"I enjoyed being with a bunch of friends while going to practices or going on training trips." said Hampel. She feels that others view her as someone who works as hard as possible, which has been shown as she has been working to get back into the water and be full strength. It is actually what she expects from the rest of this year. She expects to be back in the water and swimming competitively by the end of the season.

Hampel does offer some advice to those upcoming college athletes and swimmers, "Be strong and be patient"; which seems like pretty legitimate advice coming from this hopeful and hard-working sophomore.