Fresh Faces: Kaarin Quaerna

While her fellow freshmen began their college swimming careers when they got to campus last summer, Kaarin Quaerna (pronounced CAR-in KWAR-na) could only watch from the pool deck.

The four-time high school state qualifier from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, had recently undergone a procedure as the result of an injury a long time in the making and had to redshirt her first year on campus.

“We think part of the reason she had her injury is because she's always been strong and kind of muscled her way through it,” said head coach Duane Sorenson. “Well, you get to a point and you're doing enough things wrong – like if someone took your arm and just kept twisting it – at a point something will break and that's what happened.”

Quaerna spent the entire fall semester relegated to the deck, helping out around practice and hand-timing races during home meets. Watching her teammates train and compete day-in and day-out drives Quaerna “crazy,” according to Sorenson.

It wasn't the Winter Training Trip earlier this month that Quaerna finally got to put on her swim cap and hop in the pool for practice. Though the rest of the Cyclones are working toward a strong finish in the regular season, Quaerna began working back close to square one to make sure the injury doesn't happen again.

“Over the training trip they let me start swimming again,” Quaerna said with a big smile. “All I can do right now is follow [assistant coach Kelly Nordell] and Duane's rules and I have to completely change my stroke and technique.”

Though she's back in the pool, Quaerna and the coaching staff aren't trying to rush anything.

“We're teaching her the proper mechanics now and our goal this spring is to have a textbook stroke by the end of the [school] year so we can use her strength and apply it correctly so next fall she can come back an even better swimmer than she was in high school,” Sorenson said.

What was once a source for her shoulder setback, Quaerna's strength will soon be a big asset as she aims to become one of Iowa State's top freestyle sprinters. While Sorenson sees her future as remaining largely in the 50 and 100 freestyle, he's also looking to expand her arsenal to include the 200 freestyle.

Since the 50 and 200 freestyle are back-to-back events in the standard 16-event order for dual meets, she won't have many chances to compete in both during the regular season. When the Big 12 Championship meet rolls around, she'll have a chance to show how impactful she can be across the 50, 100 and 200 events.

“We'll train her as a 200 freestyler some days and as a 50 freestyler others,” Sorenson said. “For the future, we think she's going to be one of our top 50 and 100 freestylers – there's no doubt. We think she can be really an outstanding 200 freestyler also.”

As Quaerna just begins to get her feet wet with training to be a collegiate swimmer, she knows that although her opportunity to contribute to the team came in a different manner than it does for most, she's ready to seize it.

“Once I figure the little things out I can start training more and more and hopefully start helping the team out in meets right away next season,” Quaerna said.

Players Mentioned

Kaarin Quaerna

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics