Kasja Dymek will be celebrating her final meet as a Scarlet Knight a little earlier than most. The junior will be wrapping up her Scarlet Knight career at the upcoming Big Ten Championships at the end of February as she looks to move forward in concentrating on labs and clinics needed for her pharmacy major.
For Dymek though she will be completing her goal of swimming at a top program all while receiving a top-notch education.
Junior Kasja Dymek will race in her final competition at
the 2021 Big Ten Championships
as she prepares for a future in pharmacy
"I was probably 11 or 12 when I made it a goal to get into a really good school and swim for a really good school," she remembered.
The challenge when Dymek got older was to find a school that was going to both fit her competitive drive in the pool while also allowing her to achieve her academic goals.
"I knew in high school that I wanted to do something in the medical fields and pharmacy sounded really interesting," she said. "I wanted to be inside a hospital or some kind of inpatient care and be able to use therapeutic options to help the patients."
Swimming-wise, Dymek was sure to be a fit anywhere she wanted to go. She won the 800 free relay at New England seniors and had been a 100 fly New England record holder.
"When I was looking for colleges I wanted it to have a Division I team, but definitely have a good pharmacy program, which was hard to find both of them," she said.
Rutgers fit the bill. Not only was the team rising the ranks of the Big Ten, it also had one of the oldest and best-regarded pharmacy schools in the country.
"When I came on my visit to Rutgers, the atmosphere and the team environment, was really cool and also the location," Dymek said. "I figured it would be really good for post grad opportunities with New York and Philly right next to it."
Since arriving "On The Banks", Dymek has been a leader in the fly. She holds the sixth-fastest time in both the 100 and 200 fly and last season won six events with a combination of individual and relays and narrowly missed the "C" finals of the 100 fly at the Big Ten Championships in a swim-off. More recently, she was the runner-up with a season best in the 100 fly against No. 5 Michigan behind the Wolverines' All-American Daria Pyshneko.
Dymek also helped put Rutgers on the map both nationally and internationally. As a freshman, she swam just under the two-minute mark for a personal best to place 10th in the
International Knight - Kasja Dymek at Swim Open Stockholm in 2019
200 fly at the 2018 Speedo Winter Junior Championships and participated in the 2019 Swim Open Stockholm.
While Dymek was making her second appearance at winter juniors, she recognized the opportunity in front of her to drop times and represent the Scarlet Knights.
"I was excited because I dropped time in my best event," she recollected. "It definitely gave me more confidence going forward in swimming fast. My club coach was also there and got to see me go for another best time in the 200 fly."
Dymek was selected to travel to Swim Open Stockholm based on her academic and athletic merit and was a part of the first United States-based program to compete in the international event. The meet also gave Dymek an opportunity to swim at a long-course metered event.
"It was a really cool experience to swim internationally," she said. "It was great to go into a different country and experience their swim culture. The environment at that meet was different from American meets, but different in the fact that there were Olympians from all over the world."
In fact, during the 200 fly, Dymek was one lane away from three-time Olympic champion and nine-time long-course world champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.
Dymek will take those experiences, as well as the lessons she has learned from a very unusual season, into the water with her as she competes for the final time at the Big Ten Championships.
"Right now I just really want to finish out my swimming career on a really positive note," she smiled while mentioning "I'm also working on having fun."
Dymek during the prelims of the 100 fly at the 2020 Big Ten Championships
As her career winds down, the biggest thing she will miss is her teammates.
"One of the biggest reasons I came here was for the team environment," Dymek surmised. "We have grown so much as a team and we have really great bonds.
"All the swim meets are so much fun because I feel like we always get to cheer each other on and we're always having a great time. There's never any sad times. Even if we swim slow, we're still cheering others on and supporting everyone."
And it's those strong connections within the Scarlet Knight program that Dymek feels will continue to make the program grow stronger.
"Not only have we recruited good swimmers but also good teammates," she noted. "I feel like as the years go on, we are not only going to grow on that team bonding and also get faster at the same time."
For now though, it's not "good-bye", it's merely "see you later" as Dymek still has two years left at Rutgers, including an internship at a nearby local independent pharmacy, to finish her six-year program.
"I want to still be a part of our team after I finished swimming since I am still going to be here," Dymek said. "I hope that the team continues to grow and I'm excited to see it."
Once a Scarlet Knights, always a Scarlet Knight.
For previous stories in the Rutgers Swimming & Diving Senior Spotlight Series:
